Landslide victims's wife says husband's fears came true

The wife of a landslide victim in Bertam Valley here feels the fears of her husband, Hanipan Saroni, about the heavy rains on Nov 5 came true when he was buried alive.

Sunami Marzuki, 44, said here husband was worried about the heavy rain as he thought something bad would befall them on the night of the tragedy.

"He had a bad feeling when he slept at the kongsi house we stayed, because the rains were so heavy that night, unlike anything before this," she said when met by Bernama here on Saturday.

Reflecting on the tense moments of the incident, Sunami said she could not do anything except look at her husband who died in front of her eyes.

"The earth had reached my knees and I crawled to save myself. When I looked back, I heard him asking for help and I saw that he was covered in earth, only his hands were waving," she said.

She said the incident happened very fast and she was very sad and upset that she could not save her husband.

She said the landslide happened when they were asleep and heard the sound of something collapsing outside the house.

"We immediately got up to save ourselves but my husband could not escape in time, probably because the sarong he was wearing could have got caught somewhere, making it difficult for him to move," she said.

Sunami was able to save herself and immediately sought help from her neighbours.

Sunami, who has two children aged 22 and 17 from her marriage with Hanipan, said her husband's body would be taken back to Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, at 5.30pm on Saturday from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) for burial.

"My employer is paying for all the costs of sending the body back and I will also be going back after completing the immigration process," Sunami, who has lived in Malaysia for two years, said.

Hanipan's body was found buried alive by a team of rescuers at 9.20am on Thursday, and his body was sent to the Sultanah Hajjah Kalsom Hospital in Tanah Rata for post-mortem.

In the incident at 6.30 p.m. on Wednesday, residents along Sungai Bertam near here were ordered to be evacuated when water from the Sultan Abu Bakar dam was released in stages when its level rose due to the heavy rains.

Ringlet town was also hit by flashfloods when water from the nearby river rose above the banks after a one-hour heavy downpour.

Five people were killed and five more were injured in the incident while 203 people from 47 families in Kampung Baru and Lembah Bertam had to be evacuated to the Ringlet Flood Relief Centre.