Luxury Apartment Building Collapses in Malaysia; 1 Dies

A 12-story luxury apartment building was smacked by a landslide and collapsed Saturday. At least one person was killed, and hope was waning that any of the 41 people trapped inside were alive.

“There is thin hope for anyone to get out of this alive,” Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Sunday.

Rescue workers who dropped sound detectors into holes cut into the wreckage said there were no signs of life.

The 46-unit condominium building was flattened to less than a third of its original height, a mass of crumbled concrete and twisted steel beams. It folded at about 1:30 p.m. when a landslide broke through a retaining wall, witnesses said.

Residents said the building, which was perched on a hillside in the posh residential area of the suburb Ampang Jaya, was home to many foreigners. The U.S. Embassy said it believed no Americans were trapped.

By late Saturday night, three people had been taken from the wreckage, and one of them died at a hospital.

Shizue Nakajima, 50, of Japan died of abdominal injuries, according to doctors at General Hospital.

Two others, a woman believed to be Indonesian and a 1 1/2-year-old girl, were hospitalized in stable condition.

Police said 41 people were trapped inside. Earlier reports had said as many as 100 people were missing.

Rescuers aided by floodlights picked through the ruins through the night in a light drizzle. Three heavy cranes were helping pull apart the debris.

A crack disaster and rescue team arrived from neighboring Singapore to reinforce Malaysian units. Offers of assistance were also received from France and the Netherlands, officials said.

Two buildings about 50 feet away were evacuated, and early Sunday, one of them appeared in danger of collapsing in the loose mud.

Heavy rains have fallen for the past two weeks, and witnesses reported the building had been hit by a landslide before collapsing.

A resident from a nearby building said mud had been sliding down a hill behind the apartment for the past few days.

Prime Minister Mahathir went to the scene and pledged to investigate. “It is understood that this is a quality building. . . . By right this should not have happened,” he said. The building was constructed in 1979.