On the eighth day of the lengthy search for an Indian woman who vanished into a Kuala Lumpur pavement sinkhole, officials said that it was “too risky” to continue using divers.
Over 110 rescuers have been searching for 48-year-old Vijaya Lakshmi Gali nonstop for the past week as a result of the disaster, which has shook Malaysia.
However, other than a pair of slippers discovered during a first 17-hour search, their efforts have yielded no results.
Strong water currents and hard debris greeted two divers who entered via a sewer network at 04:00 local time on Friday (21:00 GMT Thursday), according to the Fire and Rescue Department.
The two, a firefighter and a sewer worker, also had to “lie flat” because the area was small, director-general Nor Hisham Mohammad of the department said.
“It was found to be impossible, extremely difficult, to break the solidified [debris] which are like concrete blocks,” he stated to reporters on Friday.
“Even [when we tried] pulling at them with ropes using up to eight people, [it] was unsuccessful.”
Prior to now, divers using full diving gear entered the sewer and reported fighting strong winds and zero visibility.
Firefighter Alimaddia Bukri told the local daily Simar Harian earlier this week, “Going down into the hole was really scary, but this is indeed the duty of a firefighter; we have to overcome the fear and surrender to God.”
On Wednesday, a second diver told The Straits Times, “It’s very dark in that pipe.”
“You wish to remain ignorant of its contents. It’s piled high with trash and human excrement. After every dive, we quickly decontaminate.”
Ms. Gali, a tourist from the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, was allegedly traveling with her family to a local temple when the 8 m (26 ft) deep sinkhole on Jalan Masjid India’s street engulfed her.
Shortly after the occurrence, crawler cameras—robotic cameras used to investigate pipes—and sniffer dogs were brought in by the rescuers to help them better understand what was going below ground. Excavators were then sent in to clear the area surrounding the sinkhole.
Additionally, they have attempted to disintegrate hardened debris with rope, iron hooks, and high-pressure water jets.
To assist in locating variations in the material density below the surface, authorities rolled a ground-penetrating radar instrument onto the scene on Tuesday.
A second sinkhole appeared the following day, only 50 meters from the first one. Speaking to the local daily Malaysiakini, a geologist from Malaysia ascribed it to the continuing search and rescue efforts.
Over the past two days, the main goal of the search has been to remove a 15-meter blockage in the sewage lines beneath Wisma Yakin, an office building located roughly 44 meters from the initial sinkhole.
According to reports, the obstruction was formed, among other things, of hardened used cooking oil, tires, hair, and human excrement.
As the hunt goes on, several areas of Jalan Masjid India have been blocked off.
The last several days have seen an unusual quietness in the neighborhood, which is usually frequented by tourists. Local sources state that traders have seen a 50% to 70% decline in sales, with some thinking about closing to reduce their losses.
In the interim, as they wait for word of Ms. Gali’s whereabouts, the Malaysian government has extended the family’s visas for another month. Last Saturday, they were supposed to return to India.
In observance to the family, Kuala Lumpur City Hall has likewise canceled the National Day celebrations.
Malaysians are afraid and angry about the catastrophe, and many are wondering what could have caused the sinkhole.
Officials promised to conduct a “integrity audit” to ascertain the reason. According to a representative of the Department of Mines and Geosciences, preliminary findings indicated that it might have resulted from a mix of climate change and human activity.
