At least 21 people have died following a huge landslide at a tourist camp on a farm in Malaysia.
Five children and 12 women were among the dead, authorities said, as search teams continued to scour thick mud and downed trees for those still missing.
More than 90 people were caught in the landslide, which occurred about 3am on Friday and tore down a hillside into a farm with camping facilities, engulfing the campsite about 50km north of Kuala Lumpur. Sixty-one had been found safe and 12 are still missing.
Teh Lynn Xuan, 22, said she was camping with 40 others when the landslide struck. One of her brothers died, while another was in the hospital, she said.
“I heard a loud sound like thunder, but it was the rocks falling,” she told Malay-language daily Berita Haria. “We felt the tents becoming unstable and soil was falling around us. Luckily, I was able to leave the tent and go to someplace safer.
“My mother and I managed to crawl out and save ourselves.”
The Selangor fire department said firefighters began arriving at the scene half an hour after receiving a distress call at 2.24am local time.
The landslide fell from the side of a road from an estimated height of 30 metres (98 feet) and covered an area of about 1.2 hectares, it said.
The department posted pictures of rescuers with flashlights digging through soil and rubble in the early hours of the morning.
Some families with young children who were rescued took refuge at a nearby police station. Survivors reportedly said they heard a loud thundering noise before the soil came crashing down.
Leong Jim Meng, 57, was quoted by the New Straits Times English-language daily saying he and his family were awakened by a loud bang “that sounded like an explosion” and felt the earth move.
“My family and I were trapped as soil covered our tent. We managed to escape to a carpark area and heard a second landslide happening,” he told the newspaper.
He said it was surprising because there was no heavy rain in recent days, only light drizzles.
The campsite is located on an organic farm not far from the Genting Highlands hill resort, a popular tourist destination with theme parks and Malaysia’s only casino. Access to roads leading to the area have been blocked.
Malaysia has been experiencing year-end monsoon rains, but it was not clear if it was raining before the landslide.
