38 UiTM students trapped by flood in Padawan, rescued

A total of 38 Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) students, who were trapped across the Sungai Teng Bukap in Padawan last night, were rescued today. The students, who were part of 59 from the Samarahan campus, had participated in a three-day 'Leadership Camp' at Kampung Teng Bukap, after the water level rose sharply from continuous rain in the past 24 hours. Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department's assistant director of operations Farhan Sufyan Borhan said the rest of the 21 students did not cross the river as they were part of a different group. He said the department received a distress call at 8.53pm last night and a team of six were rushed to the scene. "We arrived at 9.45pm. The river current was very strong and water level rose to about 20m, making it very dangerous and difficult to transfer the students back. "However, the students and two teachers can be contacted via walkie-talkies. We ordered them to go to higher ground as the water level kept on rising this morning," Farhan said. By noon today, the Fire and Rescue Department team successfully transferred the trapped students to safety. Meanwhile, as at 2pm, a total of 263 flood victims were housed in four relief centres in the Bau and Padawan districts. Sarawak Civil Defence Department public relations officer Siti Huzaimah Ibrahim said four relief centres were opened this morning following continuous rain that caused several villagers to be flooded by the second wave of flood. "The relief centres in Bau are St Mary Church, in Kampung Bogag, Kampung Kaman hall and Kampung Bijuray hall in Krokong, while in Padawan, the relief centre is at Sekolah Kebangsaan St Peter." – February 20, 2016.]]>