KUALA LUMPUR – The resort building that collapsed on Pulau Perhentian, leaving a few workers buried alive, was being built illegally since the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) in 2020.
Besut District Council president Mohd Sukeri Ibrahim said that the resort’s operator had applied for approval of building plan and planning permission in August 2021.
However, he said, a meeting of the council’s one-stop centre (OSC) on September 12, 2021 decided to reject the applications for several reasons, including failure to submit a plan on a permanent basis.
"The resort operator also failed to submit and get policy approval from the Economic Planning Unit (EPU),” he was quoted as saying by Harian Metro.
"The resort operator also failed to submit an application for planning permission from the registered town planner," he added.
Mohd Sukeri said this when commenting on the tragedy of the three-storey building under construction on the holiday island collapsing at about 5am yesterday.
Six construction workers at the site survived. Some of them were initially caught under the rubble but later managed to dig their way out.
One foreign labourer is still feared trapped as of this morning.
Commenting further, Mohd Sukeri said that the Besut District Council had also received a technical review from the Fire and Rescue Department which did not give its approval for the architectural plan.
He told Harian Metro that the construction project of was carried out illegally and there was no planning permission approval or building plan issued by the council.
"An investigation has been carried out and it is found that the construction project of the resort building was carried out during the implementation of the MCO in 2020," said Sukeri.
The construction had begun before the application for planning permission was even submitted for approval, he was reported as saying.
Commenting on the possibility that the resort operator will submit a new application, Mohd Sukeri insisted that the council has not received any new applications up till yesterday.
Building fell during darkness
Pulau Perhentian, a popular holiday destination for beachcombers and divers, is a 30-minute ferry ride from the coastal town of Besut in Terengganu.
Among the workers who escaped were one Malaysian and six foreigners. One still remains missing, reported Bernama.
The Malaysian and three of the others workers, who are Rohingya from Myanmar, managed to crawl out of the debris soon after the incident happened at about 5 pm yesterday. Two other workers, both Indonesians, were rescued.
Besut District Police chief Supt Abdul Rozak Muhammad said that a search-and-rescue operation had been mounted for the missing worker, also an Indonesian.
The Malaysian has been identified as Leong, the Rohingya as Mohd Eunuh Hamid Husson, Shamsul Alam Abdul Sukur, and Mohd Rafiq, and the rescued Indonesians as Jamil and Ramli.
The workers were asleep in the building when it collapsed, Abdul Rozak was quoted as saying by Bernama.
The six workers were brought to the Kuala Besut jetty here and then taken to the Besut Hospital. Their conditions were reported to be stable.
Abdul Rozak said that the project supervisor, Liew Sin Fatt, informed the police that he heard a loud noise at that time and upon rushing out of his office about 30 metres away saw that the building had collapsed.
“Liew said it was still dark and they could not find the workers among the rubble. The police set up a control centre at the scene at 9am.
Seventy officers and personnel from various agencies, such as the police, Fire and Rescue Department, Civil Defence, and Marine Police, have been involved in
the operation. – The Vibes, November 10, 2023
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