A search is under way for eight people who were swept away when a sudden water surge hit Sungai Pertak in Kuala Kubu Bharu, Hulu Selangor, on Monday evening (Nov 9).
The Selangor Fire and Rescue Department said 34 people in separate groups were caught up in the incident. In a statement on Tuesday (Nov 10), it said 19 people who had been stranded at three locations, Lata Jerlus, Kem Luit and Gunung Rajah, were brought down to safety, while seven others were reported safe.
The department’s assistant operations director, Asrul Riezal Asbar, said it received a distress call at about 5.55pm and a team from the Kuala Kubu Bharu fire station reached the scene at about 6.30pm. He said the department also received a call from an Orang Asli guide who had brought one of the groups to the area.
One of the missing was from a group of Yemeni nationals who had been hiking in the area, and four others from that group were safe, he said. The other seven were from a second group further upstream who were in the water when the current swept them away.
A water surge, known locally as kepala air, can strike with little warning when heavy rain upstream sends a sudden rush of water down a river, catching people downstream even when the weather where they are seems fine. Sungai Pertak and the waterfalls around it are popular with hikers, campers and day-trippers, and this is not the first surge there this year: in September, firefighters rescued 14 people, including children, who were trapped by rising water at the same river.
The incident happened on the same day that three people sheltering under a tree in Sepang were killed in a suspected lightning strike during heavy rain, and as a monsoon surge keeps severe-level warnings of continuous rain in force for Kelantan and Terengganu until Wednesday.
The search and rescue operation was continuing on Tuesday morning. Asrul Riezal said the department had set up an incident control post at the site to monitor the water level and comb the surrounding area for anyone who may still be trapped.
Update: Rescuers had found five bodies by late Tuesday morning (Nov 10), and three people were still missing. Read the latest on the search.