Car debris found inside the crater.
The search operation for Lim Chin Aik has been called off due to safety reasons over the buildings nearby.
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the operation ended on the advice of engineering experts who had warned that continuous digging might cause soil movement and erosion.
“We fear that digging works might endanger the prized heritage buildings in this area,” he said near the scene yesterday. “The buildings might cave in or collapse.”
Lim has been listed as missing after his car was believed to have been hit by debris from a fallen 38m-long lightning arrestor during a freak storm on Thursday.
Guan Eng said the road would likely be opened on Thursday, adding that the immediate task was to stabi-lise the affected ground with sand.
He said all the relevant agencies had agreed to speed up on the ground works, including the repair to cables and pi-ping.
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He said all the relevant agencies had agreed to speed up on the ground works, including the repair to cables and pi-ping.
He added that the Penang Municipal Council and the building's owner would be asked to conduct checks on another big structure placed on top the affected building.
“We will seek their cooperation to bring down the structure themselves to ensure public safety,” Guan Eng said.
Meanwhile, Institution of Engineers Malaysia Penang past chairman Datuk Lim Kok Khong said the front part of the victim's vehicle, including the driver's seat, could have been “sheared off” by the structure.
“The car was crushed. Imagine the impact caused by a 38m-long structure weighing hundreds of tonnes plunging from the sky,” he said. “The impact was too big. We found the car parts some 7m underground.”
