Early police investigations suggest that heavy excavation work took place just 30m from the Putra Heights gas pipeline explosion site before the April 1 incident, says Comm Datuk Hussein Omar Khan.
Speaking at the site on Friday (April 4), the Selangor police chief stated that unstable ground has hindered investigations, delaying a preliminary report for two weeks, with the full report expected two weeks later.
Comm Hussein said dual probe is underway— the Occupational Safety and Health Department (DOSH) is investigating possible worksite safety breaches, while police are examining potential negligence or foul play.
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Speaking at the site on Friday (April 4), the Selangor police chief stated that unstable ground has hindered investigations, delaying a preliminary report for two weeks, with the full report expected two weeks later.
Comm Hussein said dual probe is underway— the Occupational Safety and Health Department (DOSH) is investigating possible worksite safety breaches, while police are examining potential negligence or foul play.
Read more at https://tinyurl.com/27wezw37
WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news
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NewsTranscript
00:00The police have confirmed that one of the main reasons for the investigation is the digging of the land around the area.
00:16So the police have confirmed that there is an activity of digging the land that has taken place before the incident.
00:25And those activities are to replace the concrete pipes that are more or less 30 meters from the explosion site.
00:41So the police have identified the developers, contractors, subcontractors and involved workers
00:53who used two types of tools, one is a backhoe and the other is an excavator
00:59which has been used to dig the land in the area to replace the existing concrete pipes.
01:08And those activities have been stopped on March 30.
01:14So the result of the police investigation is that one of the excavators was buried in the hole.
01:29Is this excavation activity can cause an explosion?
01:34This is one thing that needs to be investigated further to identify other things that need to be collected
01:45when we dig the hole and find other physical objects that can form.
01:53Is the activity of digging the land can cause an explosion on the gas pipes?
02:02So we still need time to find this out.
02:08We can confirm that there is an activity of digging the land, but how deep and how far is it?
02:19This needs to be investigated further.
02:21And then we can confirm whether the activity can cause the explosion.
02:27So the police need more time.
02:31At this time, we have taken the testimony of 56 witnesses
02:36from the victims who were at the scene, contractors and workers in the area.
02:50At this time, we have identified a witness who was at the scene when the explosion occurred.
02:57A security guard who was in front of the newly built shop lot
03:03at a distance of 30 meters from the explosion site.
03:06He was there at the time of the incident and was also injured.
03:09So the police are collecting information from this witness
03:15to find out if there is any activity of burning,
03:23digging, or other activities that can cause an explosion.
03:32So we still need time and we are still trying to stabilize the land there
03:42and to investigate further.
03:45Is there any information about the time when the explosion occurred?
03:53There are two areas that we are investigating now.
03:58One is that we have received information that there are victims living in the Kelang River.
04:03The river is located about 50 meters from the village area.
04:07So today, a boat has passed from the mouth of the Kelang River to that place.
04:14We did not find anything.
04:17So at this time, if it's a corpse, we won't find it.
04:23The initial surface examination did not find any body parts.
04:30We have used K9s and forensics to investigate this case.
04:36We have also checked the houses that were left,
04:40but we did not find any corpses or injured people.
04:48So we still need time to dig that hole and we will see.
04:55At this time, we know that there is an excavator sunk in that hole.
05:01Is there anyone in there when it sank? Or do we need to continue the investigation?
05:06How long did it take to dig that hole?
05:10How long did it take to dig that hole?
05:13Within two weeks.
05:16From April 15th.
05:20Now we need to stabilize it first.
05:23From April 15th, then we will start digging.
05:26I would say about two weeks before the exploration,
05:30and they stopped on March 30th.
05:35We have received video and gash cams from social media,
05:40from Saksi Saksi Bebas, within 20 days.
05:43From these 20 days, we have investigated,
05:47half of the video has been investigated.
05:49From the video, we found these witnesses,
05:52who were at the scene of the incident.
05:54Even the witnesses have taken the video as well.
05:57So we are still watching the video,
06:00and I am asking the people who have further information,
06:03to send the video to the police for further investigation.
06:07So we want to know who else was at the scene at the time of the incident,
06:11or before the incident,
06:13any entity that could have caused the explosion.
06:17We have identified the contractor,
06:19we have identified the subcontractor,
06:21we have identified the workers who were working there.
06:23We have taken a statement,
06:25and we are still investigating,
06:29as to how far the workers were working there.
06:32Meaning, they dug the hole to install the pipe,
06:35and so on.
06:37The backboard was taken out a day before the incident,
06:41and we have identified where the backboard was.
06:45So the police will investigate further.
06:48We are investigating the activity,
06:51and we have received a statement from the parliament.
06:54Whether the activity could have caused the explosion,
06:57we have to investigate further.
07:05We have obtained the video,
07:07and we have called the witness,
07:09who said that he saw it.
07:11There was a witness who came to the scene,
07:14and he saw the backboard in the morning.
07:17He saw the backboard,
07:19and it was not clear whether the backboard was working or not.
07:25We have identified the owner of the backboard.
07:29He came to take the backboard out,
07:31because he committed a crime.
07:33So he took it out for repair.
07:37So we have identified that there was a backboard in the area,
07:41but we have not confirmed whether it was working or not.
07:46So we will investigate further.
07:49We want to know whether,
07:51even though there was a work activity,
07:53whether the activity could have caused the explosion.