Semantan MRT mishap: MRT Corp awaits full post-mortem report

Mass Rapid Transit Corporation Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp) is waiting for a post-mortem report on the cause of death of Bangladeshi worker during an incident at the Semantan Portal construction site, along Jalan Duta yesterday.

MRT Corp director of strategic communications and public relations, Amir Mahmood Razak said the post mortem report on Rijaul Abdul Goni, 40, who died on the spot was carried out at Kuala Lumpur Hospital and completed late yesterday.

The report has yet to be released by the authorities, said Amir Mahmood in the statement.

"We are arranging for the repatriation of Rijaul's body on Monday. Our team is in constant touch with the Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur to attend to the details related to this," he said.

Amir Mahmood however, denied media reports that the deceased body was crushed to death.

“Preliminary reports said the body was intact and not crushed. Nevertheless, the post-mortem report will identify the cause of death,” he said.

He said another worker Shanaullah, 37, who suffered from facial injuries, underwent a nose surgery yesterday.

Amir Mahmood also debunked reports stating that the Fire and Rescue Department was not immediately alerted of the incident.

“The contractor for that particular site, Sunway Construction Sdn Bhd, had placed a call to the Emergency Line 999 at 1.38pm approximately 18 minutes after the incident occurred.

“They adhered strictly to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) which was to inform the authorities immediately after any accident had occurred.

“Any incident is immediately reported via email and SMS to two sets of internal groups,” he added.

During the incident, the three workers were assembling a rebar (reinforcement bar) cage at the Semantan Portal V4 Site at 1.20pm yesterday when the ties that held the rebar gave away and fell on the workers.

The third worker Rozlu Karim escaped injury, said Amir Mahmood and extended the company's deepest condolences and regret to the families over this unfortunate incident.

He said MRT Corp with the authorities were carrying on investigation to determine the cause of the incident.