IPOH: While Kampung Kacang Putih in Buntong is famed for its traditional Indian snacks, few are aware of the gruesome episode which eventually led to the village's establishment.
The kacang putih traders migrated from the village of Ettayapuram in Tamil Nadu to Malaya during British colonial rule and settled at the foothills of Gunung Cheroh.
Their lives, however, took a sharp turn on the fateful night of Oct 18, 1973. A massive limestone slab fell from the cliff of the hill and crushed 40 people to death.
Only 12 bodies were discovered while many were unaccounted for.
One of the survivors, Subrumaniam Thangavelu, 59, who was 14 at the time, is still able to recall the harrowing tragedy.
"On that day, my family and I were watching Tamil news on television around 7.30pm.
"The TV went off suddenly and one of my relatives ran towards our house, shouting that a hill behind the temple had collapsed.
"The street lights were out and it was pitch dark. We could not see anything behind the temple.
"Later, some soldiers came in and they used cranes to recover the dead bodies," he said, adding that his father was the leader of the kacang putih community then.
Subrumaniam said several other houses, including his own, which were located in front of the temple, were not affected by the rock fall.
"An old British bungalow house, which was rented out to dhobi (traditional Indian laundry) workers, was destroyed, including some people who were rearing cattle at a nearby cave.
"For almost one year, a lot of people came to our village to see the rock slab because it was an unbelievable tragedy.
"Legend has it that an old woman came to our village and warned that the rocks will fall down but the villagers chased her away, thinking that she was insane. But, I'm not sure how true that is," he said.
Subrumaniam said the state government later relocated the surviving kacang putih traders to Buntong after the tragedy, where Kampung Kacang Putih was established.
"At first, the state government wanted to allocate land for us in the Gunung Cheroh area, but they changed their mind after the incident.
"The temple is still there, and every year, it is customary for the kacang putih traders to hold prayers there three days after Deepavali.
"Wild shrubs and trees have claimed the area now, but the rock slab is still visible until today," he said.
Almost 50 years have passed by, but the Gunung Cheroh incident still remains Perak's deadliest rockfall tragedy.