Divers take turns to enter sewer in search of missing tourist

Annual national day celebrations at nearby Independence Square cancelled

- Azril Annuar

Malaysian divers in full scuba gear have been taking turns to enter a 1.5m-diameter sewer in the past week, searching in pitch darkness amid the foul debris for an Indian tourist who fell into a sinkhole in downtown Kuala Lumpur on Aug 23.

"It is pitch black in that pipe, and we have vision only because of our torchlight," said one of the four divers from the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department, who wanted to be known simply as Mr Zulkhairi.

"You don't want to know what's in there - it's full of human waste and other garbage. We decontaminate immediately after each dive," he told The Straits Times on Aug 28.

Mr Zulkhairi works with another diver, and there is another team of two specialist divers from the department, which regularly conducts search and rescue missions in flooded towns and villages.

Ms Vijayalaksmi, 48, from Kuppam, Andhra Pradesh state, fell 8m into the sinkhole that opened up on the pavement in Jalan Masjid India, a popular tourist shopping district. She was heading towards a nearby temple.

The authorities said a portion of a large concrete sewer at the bottom of the sinkhole was broken, and Ms Vijayalaksmi might have fallen in and been swept away.

Heavy rain that deluged Kuala Lumpur in the past weeks meant there was a lot of fast-moving water in the sinkhole and sewer, complicating the search efforts.