Site of six deaths undergoes clean-up
By N. Alagesh
MARAN: Garbed in white protective gear, a 52 member team from six government departments in Pahang carried out a massive five-hour clean-up of the Lubuk Yu waterfall site yesterday.
The 9am operation, led by Pahang Health director Datuk Dr. Rosnah Ismail, saw the team divided into four groups to carry out a number of jobs, including disinfection, garbage collection, washing the restrooms and also collecting the soil, and water samples.
As a precaution, the members from the district office, state Health, Forestry, Veterinary, Wildlife and National Parks, and Waterworks department, underwent a health screening before the operation.
They also wore a one-piece overall protective gear known as "Personal Protective Equipment", which included gloves, rubber boots, safety goggles and face mask.
After a short briefing, the groups were driven to the waterfall in four 4WD vehicles, accompanied by an excavator and two tankers from the water works department.
Lubuk Yu, one of the more popular waterfalls in Pahang, became the talk of the country following a string of mysterious deaths that hit the search party for a 28-year-old drowning victim, Saiful Azhar Azizam, at the site on June 26.
Six men, including Saiful Azhar's father, Azizam Abdullah, 58, along with Timothy Hoo Seng Heng, 29, Lim Sin Lai, 55, Mohd Shah, 60, Zakaria Ayub, 52, and Zainal Abidin Ismail, 56, died within a week.
More than 83 people, comprising rescuers and villagers, were involved in the search operation from June 26-30.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai later said the victims had contracted the deadly melioidosis and leptospirosis bacteria from contaminated water and soil.
Yesterday's clean-up covered a 500-metre radius from the waterfall site. The operation was divided into two zones, Zone A and Zone B.
Rosnah said the groups were driven up to Zone A, which was about 100 metres from the waterfall, before they changed into their protective gear.
The clean-up site was identified as Zone B, and the area was strictly for those wearing protective gear.
The garbage collected from the waterfall site was put into garbage bags before it was buried into a hole.
Rosnah also said those who had completed the clean-up task were told to shower at special shower compartments set up by the water works department at Zone A.
Personnel from the Health Department were the first to make their way into the site to spray disinfectant before another team moved in to collect all the garbage.
This was followed by the group which was sent to wash the restrooms and tidy the stalls.
Finally, the disinfectants were sprayed again.
Besides the six government agencies, Rosnah said personnel from the Pahang Mineral and Geoscience Department were also present at the site to gather samples from the soil and water.
She said if there were no new cases reported by July 28, the State Natural Disaster Relief Committee, headed by state secretary Datuk Muhammad Safian Ismail, would declare the outbreak at Lubuk Yu over.
"So far, all those hospitalised and put under observation were cases recorded between June 26 and June 30. Since the clean-up has been completed, we will now monitor the waterfall site and discuss with the experts the outcome of the water and soil tests before deciding to re-open the waterfall," she said.
She said those who joined the clean-up operation yesterday, including four members of the local media, would be placed under observation for a month.
Rosnah said 20 people, including the victims, were believed to have contracted melioidosis and leptospirosis at the Lubuk Yu recreational area near here.
She said six people were still warded at the hospitals in Jengka, Selayang and Temerloh, while the others were allowed to go home.
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