by Rosli Mansor Ahmad Razali
The landslide incident at Bukit Larut yesterday is believed to have occurred due to the soil structure not being very stable following heavy rains, said Taiping Municipal Council (MPT) Chairman Khairul Amir Mohamad Zubir.
According to him, the two areas involved are around the road at kilometre (km) 1.6 up to km 6 and the area that covers the road at km 1.6 and km 3.5.
He said that the collapse caused the road to be impassable by all vehicles.
“MPT would like to inform the public that there was an incident of landslides following heavy rain in two areas of Bukit Larut on January 12. The incident was noticed by Bukit Larut Resort staff (PPBL) at 4.30pm. There were no casualties or damage to public property reported and all involved staff and climbers safely descended to the foot of the hill via the trail,” he said in a statement late yesterday afternoon.
He also said that the MPT has informed the Department of Public Works (JKR) of the Larut Matang and Selama Districts about this incident, so the parties involved have sent a team to clean up the landslide debris.
He said that the Bukit Larut area was closed to the public starting yesterday until the road cleaning and slope repair work was completed to ensure the safety of visitors.
On Thursday, the media reported that several Bukit Larut management staff were stranded while on their way down from the station and the accommodation bungalow following a landslide due to heavy rain.
Bukit Larut MPT Resort in a statement informed that all of them managed to get down to the foot of the hill by using a shortcut.
