BENTONG: Rescue personnel have found three bodies while another two are still missing as search and rescue operations to locate villagers swept away by a water column at Kampung Seri Telemong here enters the second day today.
The trio was among 16 people who were swept away by raging murky river water while trapped with their vehicles on a bridge at Sungai Telemong at about 2am yesterday. Ten people were rescued while another was reported dead.
Pahang Fire and Rescue Department deputy director (operations) Ismail Abdul Ghani said rescue personnel found the first body, a woman about 1km from the bridge about 1.17pm today.
"After searching the area, the remains of a senior citizen was recovered 20 minutes later about 1.1km from the bridge while the third body, a man, was recovered at 2.10pm. Rescue teams are scouring the river bank to locate the other two missing individuals.
"Based on investigations, 16 people were swept away during the incident before 10 including four women were rescued with the help of some factory workers on the same day. They later found the remains of an elderly woman," he said.
He said today another three bodies were recovered while an elderly man and a woman are reportedly missing.
Speaking of the incident, Ismail said the victims along with five cars were parked on the bridge before they were swept away by a sudden gush of water in the swollen river.
He said 23-personnel were deployed in the SAR operations at the scene and the locals were also providing assistance.
