16 persons have reportedly died after a landslide hit a hillside tourist campground in Malaysia, reports have emerged on Friday.
Authorities said 17 others were feared buried at the site on an organic farm outside the capital of Kuala Lumpur.
An estimated 94 Malaysians were sleeping at the campsite in Batang Kali in central Selangor state, around 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of Kuala Lumpur, when the incident occurred, said district police chief Suffian Abdullah.
He said the death toll has risen to 16, including a five-year-old boy. Seven people have been hospitalized with injuries and rescuers were searching for the estimated 17 missing people, he said. Another 53 people were rescued without harm.
According to Nga Kor Ming, the local government development minister, 61 people so far have been found safe after the predawn landslide near the town of Batang Kali, just outside the capital Kuala Lumpur and near a mountain casino resort.
Veronica Loi, who was camping at the site overnight and survived the landslide, told AFP that her family was sleeping when they heard a sudden, loud sound.
“We saw the tent beside us was totally gone,” she said.
Hundreds of government personnel including police and rescuers were seen at the gates leading to the campsite compound, while an excavator was seen entering the area from the main road.
The farm where the campsite was situated — “Father’s Organic Farm” — changed its Facebook profile picture to all black on Friday.
Nga said the “campsite is operating without a licence,” and that the operators would be punished if found guilty by the court.
Videos and photos circulating online showed large fallen trees and crushed vehicles, as well as search and rescue personnel wearing headlamps and digging with shovels, and searching for survivors by a fallen structure.
Landslides are common in Malaysia after heavy rains, which are regular at the end of the year. However, there were no heavy rains recorded overnight in Batang Kali.
The government has imposed strict rules with regards to hillside development, but landslides have continued to occur after bouts of bad weather.
In March, four people were killed after a massive landslide triggered by heavy rains buried their homes in a Kuala Lumpur suburb.
In one of the deadliest such incidents, a huge mudslide in 1993 brought on by heavy rain caused a 12-storey residential building outside the capital to collapse, killing 48 people.
AFP