Johor: Reclaimed land caves in

Desiree Tresa Gasper The Star 14 Nov 10;

JOHOR BARU: Part of the land being re­claimed for a multi-billion ringgit project along Lido Beach here caved in, causing a tractor driver and some machinery to fall into the sea.

Work on the integrated commercial and residential project, which involved the reclamation of 123ha of land started early this month with one sq km already reclaimed. Half of it caved in yesterday.

Mohd Noor Miskan, 36, is believed to have fallen into the sea along with the tractor he was operating.

The developer of the Lido Boulevard project is Central Malaysian Properties Sdn Bhd.

Also lost in the incident were three tractors, two containers and one generator unit.

At press time, Noor has not been found.

“We arrived at the scene at around 10.36pm on Friday night and 18 officers were conducting the search and rescue for the victim,” said Johor Fire and Rescue department senior operations officer Aminah Saimin.

Mohd Noor’s mother and sister who were at the scene said they were shocked when they heard about what had happened.

“He was supposed to visit my mother at the hospital not too far from where he was working.

“She had been warded several days ago with thyroid cancer,” said Mohd Noor’s sister Hani Masra Miskan, 40.

“We are still hoping that they will find him, because he is a wonderful brother and the pillar of strength of our family,” she said, adding that Mohd Noor was married with four children.

Mohd Noor’s mother, Siti Tasuki, 58, said she could not take the news and only wanted her son back. “He is my only son and he is very close to me,” she said.

A spokesman from the Central Malaysian Properties said a team of technical consultants were investigating the cause of the accident.

“We started reclamation work on the site this month after getting the approval from the authorities and we are doing our best to find out what went wrong,” he said.

Reclamation work on the integrated waterfront development had been scheduled to be completed in the next 24 months.

Man drowns as excavator on barge topples into sea
Ben Tan and Ahmad Fairuz Othman New Straits Times 14 Nov 10;

JOHOR BARU: An excavator operator drowned when the construction barge he was working on capsized in the Johor Straits, in front of Istana Besar here, late Friday night.

Mohd Nor Miskan, 36, drowned when the excavator plunged into the sea when the construction barge capsized while undertaking reclamation works at 10.30pm.

At press time yesterday, his body had not been found by a 29-man search team, comprising 15 divers from the Fire and Rescue Department, southern region Marine Police and Johor Marine Department.

The incident, which happened adjacent to the busy Jalan Skudai, also created a kilometre-long traffic jam where curious passers-by thronged the stretch of the road.

It is learnt that efforts to recover Nor's body had been hampered as the excavator had plunged deep into the sea.

The incident happened in a part of a 9.7ha construction site being developed by Belgian construction firm Jan De Nul (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd for Central Malaysian Properties Sdn Bhd's high-end Lido Residences condominium project.

State police chief Datuk Mokhtar Shariff, who was at the scene, said the rescuers' were trying to recover the body as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Nor's mother, Siti Tasuki, 58, rushed to the scene at 4am from Sultan Ismail Hospital where she was seeking treatment for thyroid cancer.

"I am very worried for my son. I never thought something like this would happen," she said, in between sobs.

Nor, who is a father of four, had been working for the company for 10 years.