BAYAN LEPAS: Search and rescue operations have been called off after four Bangladeshi construction workers thought to have been buried beneath rubble in the Batu Maung logistics warehouse collapse were located elsewhere.
Deputy state police chief Datuk Mohamed Usuf Jan Mohamad said the four are well and alive, and were indeed at the scene when the incident happened but had quickly fled out of fear.
''We were able to locate the four construction workers at about 4pm today around Bayan Lepas.
"We have recorded their statements, we identified them through the camera recording at the scene of the incident at 9.06pm yesterday before the incident happened.
"They were there at the scene when the building collapsed and ran away. They are still alive and took off out of fear," he told newsmen at the scene here this evening.
According to him, all of them may have fled out of fear, they may not have valid work permits.
"All of them have been arrested and the police will conduct an investigation," he added.
As such, Mohamed Usuf said the search and rescue operation, which was carried out since 10.30pm yesterday, was stopped at 6.30pm today.
''We have decided that after the search and rescue operation was carried out, we did not find any victims at the scene.
"So, the number of victims remains at five — three who died and two seriously injured. That is what we've found so far," he said.
He said police have classified the case as sudden death but further investigations related to the collapse incident would be carried out by the Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia (CIDB), DOSH and others.
''The findings of their investigation will be handed over to the police if there are certain elements that may reclassify the case as sudden death to another appropriate section,'' he said.
Meanwhile, state Fire and Rescue Department deputy director Fire Assistant Commissioner Zulfahmi Sutaji said they would reduce the strength of personnel at the location and firefighters from the Bayan Lepas station would be at the scene for the time being.
"They will inform us if anything new comes up; we will immediately hand over the site location to the relevant agency," he said.