SUBANG JAYA, April 7 — Authorities say the Petronas gas pipeline involved in the Putra Heights explosion must be fully exposed before determining whether a contractor’s excavation works interfered with it.
“The physical condition of this pipe does not show any obvious disturbance. These excavation works were carried out and monitored by the police together with Petronas, Public Works Department (PWD), Department of Survey and Mapping Malaysia (JUPEM), the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH), Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), Air Selangor and the contractor,” said Selangor police chief Datuk Hussein Omar Khan during a press conference here yesterday.
“Whether the contractor’s excavation works disturbed the pipeline route cannot be determined at present until the entire pipeline in the area is exposed and further investigated,” he added.
Police investigations so far found that the sewage pipeline installed by the contractor was at a depth of 2.1 metres, while the Petronas gas pipeline lay 5.6 metres beneath the road, suggesting a 1.6-metre separation between the two.
Excavation works, which spanned 30 metres, are ongoing using three excavators, a bulldozer and a backhoe to open up the area and survey the full extent of the gas pipeline, believed to lie between six and seven metres deep.
The explosion, which rocked the Putra Heights neighbourhood on the second day of Hari Raya, damaged 219 homes and displaced hundreds of residents.
A total of 509 families have registered as victims as of yesterday, according to Bernama.
No deaths were reported.
