An around-the-clock search of the sewer system has so far failed to find Vijaya Lakshmi Gali, a 48-year-old who vanished without a trace after plunging into an 8-metre-deep chasm following the sudden collapse of the pavement in the Masjid India area of the city. The incident, caught on CCTV cameras, has shocked Kuala Lumpur residents and raised questions over potential negligence after it was revealed that there was a soil slip at the exact spot last year, which was subsequently patched. Public patience is running thin with the road closures and business losses in a busy commercial area, a stone’s throw from the Petronas Towers, with some speculating that haphazard development linked to an urban renewal scheme dubbed the “River of Life” may have been the cause of the tragedy.
“You call it River of Life but someone has lost their life because of it,” Samy, whose Hindu prayer accessories stall is just metres away from the second sinkhole, told This Week in Asia. Launched by the federal government in 2011 in an echo of Seoul’s Cheonggyecheon’s stream restoration project, the rejuvenation of the historic old parts of Kuala Lumpur remains unfinished despite having spent over 3.9 billion ringgit (US$900 million).
01:19 Indian tourist vanishes after being swallowed by 8-metre sinkhole in Kuala Lumpur Pointing at the cordoned off hole near his stall, Samy said that people had noticed the subsidence forming since May and city hall had made efforts to patch it. “It’s fine to emulate what other countries are doing, but please do it properly, not just make things beautiful,” said Samy, who declined to give his full name fearing repercussions from authorities for speaking out. Fatimah Abdullah, 54, who sells steamed chickpeas close to the site of last Friday’s accident, said she had to pitch a makeshift stall on a side alley since the mishap while the search operation continues.
After 37 years in the Masjid India area, Fatimah said the city’s high-speed urbanisation had concreted over swampland. “This whole area was a swamp, small streams, they built over it,” she said. In a bid to appease mounting public concerns over safety, authorities will conduct an “integrity audit” of the sewerage system along the areas, Deputy Prime Minister Fadillah Yusof said on Wednesday evening.
“We will examine all utilities and the entire underground system here by conducting a postmortem to determine how to prevent similar incidents in the future,” he said. Fadillah, however, slammed armchair critics for speculating on Kuala Lumpur’s safety. “I hope everyone will refrain from making speculations, as many ‘Google experts’ tend to emerge,” he told reporters, saying it is “unhelpful”.
Malaysia’s social media has been abuzz over the safety of the city of two million people after past geological reports stating the metropolis is built on sinkhole-prone soft limestones went viral. Kuala Lumpur Mayor Maimunah said that there is no solid evidence that the city is unsafe but has established a task force to look into the matter. “Based on the current situation, Kuala Lumpur remains safe unless proven otherwise by studies,” she said.
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