24 PEOPLE BURIED ALIVE IN LANDSLIDE AT ORPHANAGE, SIX RESCUED

KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 (Bernama) -- Twenty-four people were buried alive when
a landslide hit an orphanage in Hulu Langat, a district in the southeast part of
Selangor state, Saturday.

The victims were mostly orphans and staff of the orphanage.

As at 6.30pm, nine orphans had been pulled out of the debris by a search and
rescue team from the Fire and Rescue Department, police and the Civil Defence
Department.

Selangor Police Chief, Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah said three of the victims,
aged between 11 and 14, died at the scene and their remains had been sent to the
Ampang Hospital for autopsy.

Six others who were injured, aged between 11 and 17, were sent to Kajang
Hospital for treatment.

"We learnt that two landslides occurred simultaneously at the orphanage. All
the victims did not have time to escape," he said at a press conference at the
orphanage for boys.

He said the body of the first victim was pulled out from the debris at about
4.30pm while the second body was retrieved at 5pm and the third at 6.10pm.

Bernama was made to understand that the landslide occurred at about 2.30pm
when all the children were in the orphanage's multipurpose hall.