SEARCH CONTINUES: Rescue workers continuing their hunt for survivors at the Christchurch Cathedral this morning
Five more Malaysians. including a family-of-four, are the latest reported missing following the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, on Tuesday.
Malaysian operations room chief Ayauf Bachi in the city told The Malay Mail this morning that the fifth missing
person was a man, bringing the total to six.
The first Malaysian reported missing was a woman from Sarawak in her 30s who worked at a private company in Christchurch.
Bachi said efforts were being made to visit areas where the five Malaysians were believed to have been to in order to gather more information.
“We are going to Avonside, an eastern suburb in Christchurch, where the family-of-four and the man were believed to have travelled to before the quake.”
Bachi said they needed to check with the New Zealand Defence Department whether the road to Avonside was safe before heading there.
“We are still unsure if the roads are blocked. If it is clear, we will go there to get more information.”
Avonside is two kilometres from the badly-hit city centre. He said they were trying to identify the missing five.
“We are going through various sources, including calls from family members and friends, who were unable to contact them.”
Bachi said the operation room also received a list of Malaysians in New Zealand from the Malaysian High Commission and cross-checked it to determine if they were potentially missing.
On the missing Sarawakian woman, Bachi said the search was on-going, adding that her family had been informed of her status.
Bachi, who is also the Foreign Ministry’s deputy chief of protocol, said there were 636 Malaysians in Christchurch, including 390 students, and they had met with about 40 students yesterday to determine the assistance needed.
The lunch-time 6.3-magnitude earthquake caused the deaths of 113 people, with 300 others reported missing, so far.
