'No other victims' at bridge collapse in Penang

The authorities have called off the search and rescue operations this evening at the site where a ramp of the Second Penang Bridge collapsed on Thursday.

Earlier today, a K9 dog unit from Kuala Lumpur helped police sniff through the ruins at least three times but did not come up with anything.

Speaking to Astro AWANI Penang deputy police chief Datuk Abd Rahim Jaafar said that the police and fire and rescue department will now leave the next course of action to the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH).

“No, we will not continue with the search as there are no other victims. We have tried our level best to find with the sniffer dogs any other bodies, or vehicles, but there are none,” said Abd Rahim.

The operations has gone around the clock since Thursday evening.

The number of personnel involved number about 150 and consist of those from the Jambatan Kedua Sdn Bhd contractor, Fire and Rescue Department, the Civil Defence Department (JPAM) and the police.

Last night, the body of Tajudin Zainal Abidin, 45, who was trapped in a Perodua Kelisa car beneath the rubble was extricated at about 9 pm, more than 24 hours after the collapse incident.

Three others were injured in the incident.

Two of them were identified as an Indonesian worker identified only as Slamat, 36, and an a Myanmar national, Tin Maung Iwin, 39 who were working on the ramp when it collapsed. They are receiving treatment at the Penang Hospital.

The third person was a local woman, Thilasheni Rajendran, 24, who was injured by flying debris while driving through the affected area. Her car’s side window was shattered by a fallen beam.

Police said there are no more missings persons reports.

On Thursday, the interchange ramp involving two sections of concrete, one hard concrete section weighing 180 tonnes and a soft concrete section weighing 100 tonnes suddenly collapsed at about 7pm. The 30-metre wide ramp, which was above land, was located along the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway in Batu Maung.

The collapsed portion was part of Package 3A of the Second Penang Bridge project undertaken by Cergas Murni Sdn Bhd, a Kuala Lumpur-based construction company.

The contract, worth RM158 million, was awarded to Cergas Murni in early 2010 to carry out the construction of island link structures to the bridge.

Since the incident, the island municipality, the MPPP, had issued a stop work order on bridge construction.