KOTA KINABALU: Quick thinking by a neighbor managed to save seven people, including four children, from being buried alive during a landslide at Taman Iramanis here on Sunday.
The landslide from Bukit Saujana almost destroyed some houses at Taman Iramanis.
In the 6.05pm incident, three houses built on top of Bukit Saujana came crashing down with falling debris while six double-storey terrace houses at Taman Iramanis were affected by the landslide.
According to Siti Aina Laja, 25, she was in her house with her husband and daughter when the incident happened, they heard a loud sound coming from the back of their house.
“My husband went to investigate. Suddenly I heard him screaming to ask us to get out of the house.
“I went out to see what had happened and saw earth, rocks and trees came crashing down towards our house.
“I ran back into the house to grab my daughter and ran out of the house as the earth broke through the house.
“I was running for my life as the earth had reached my leg and thanked God that I managed to get out of the house with my daughter in time,” she said when met yesterday.
Siti Aina, who was still in a trauma, said the incident that almost took her life and her child, was still fresh in her mind.
Aldin Agil, 35, said his wife and four children aged between five to 12, lived in one of the houses. His neighbours were a family of five and a 24-year-old couple.
Aldin said his family and him were watching television at home when the landslide occurred around 6pm.
Initially, he thought the noise he heard was due to the rain, but upon investigating, he realized that earth was coming down towards his house.
“I yelled at them (his family) to escape from the house.”
His family members managed to escape, except for his youngest five-year-old daughter, who was trapped in the house.
His wife immediately turned back and rescued her.
“By then, the mud had already gone into the house; my feet were under a foot of mud,” she said.
The family then ran towards safety to the main road at Bukit Saujana, leaving their belongings behind.
Meanwhile, 24-year-old Khomeni Abd Kadir and wife Maggirit Mulit said they left their home around 5pm to Kota Kinabalu and only realized their house had gone down the hill when they returned around 9pm.
Another victim, Ray Taib, 25, said he did not manage to save any of his belongings as the incident happened so fast.
He said screams from his neighbor had saved his family from being buried alive in the landslide.
“We were in the living room and did not realize there was a landslide.
“We were only alerted when we heard our neighbor’s screams. As we were running out of the house, I turned and saw earth rolling down the hill like molten lava,” said Ray, who stays with hismother and three children.
Another resident, who only wanted to be identified as Wong, said he saw the earth crashing down towards his house while he was in his kitchen preparing dinner.
“I panicked and did not know what to do as I was so afraid, but I am glad that my house was not badly affected by the landslide,” he said.