Residents of the Taman Matang Jaya housing area in Sungai Buloh received the shock of their lives when quarry stone fragments poured down on them like a meteor shower, causing severe damage to their homes.
According to a report by Kosmo, a total of 76 houses were affected, while a 20-year-old student also sustained injuries following the incident that took place at around 3:12pm on Wednesday (May 14).
A representative of the residents, Ahmad Saidfuddin Mohd. Adam shared that the incident was caused by explosions from a nearby quarry mine, causing rock fragments to fly almost a kilometre towards residential homes. The explosions are apparently routinely carried out 2 to 4 times a week, to break up rocks for mining purposes.
“Since I moved to this residential area in 2006, I have become accustomed to the sound of explosions. But this time, residents said that the explosion was very strong and the tremors were like an earthquake. The explosion caused fragments of rocks to fly and hit the roofs of their houses, causing them to leak,” he said.
He added that the quarry company has since agreed to pay compensation to repair the damaged houses.
“However, we also asked for guarantees that the same incident would not happen again. So, the JMG (Selangor Forestry Department and the Minerals and Geosciences Department) has given instructions for the explosion exercises at the quarry to be temporarily stopped for investigations to be conducted,” he added.
Out of the 76 houses affected, 13 were severely damaged while the other 63 received cracks in their walls, floors and burst pipes.
A resident recounts her experience of the incident
A 55-year-old resident, Salwa Mat Radzi, shared that she and her husband were in the kitchen when they heard a loud bang on the roof of their house.
“I heard the siren before the explosion, but I didn’t expect that a rock fragment the size of a motorcycle helmet would fall from the ceiling into the living room. It was like being hit by a ‘meteor fragment‘,” she said, adding her fears that casualties may occur should such incidents happen again.
“We are traumatised by this incident, if we were in the living room, we might have been injured.”
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