The unsung heroes of the Bukit Antarabangsa landslide would never be able to talk of their tireless search for life under the mud and rubble. They have been too busy using their noses.
Hardy, Cody and Joe of the Fire Department’s K9 Unit are usually the first to locate trapped victims in search and rescue operations.
The dogs were trained as sniffer dogs in the United Kingdom and were brought to Malaysia in 2006 to help the Fire Department during search and rescue operations.
“These dogs are specially trained in UK to help search and rescue operations involving landslides or floods,” said Thivagaran who is a dog handler for the Fire Department.
Hardy, Cody and Joe are based in Jalan Klang Lama and have been stationed at the Bukit Mewah landslide area for the last few days to help look for victims.
Their work starts at 10am, and ends when the authorities decide to call off the operations.
They are fed once a day at 4pm and are brought back to their base when their work is done.
“They are very obedient dogs and would follow our instructions. The dogs are a great help for the search and rescue department,” added Thivagaran.
At yesterday’s search and rescue operations, the trio were used to locate the body of a Sri Lankan maid.
So far, the search has only unearthed the carcass of a dog.
It is learned that during a search and rescue operation in Gerik, Perak on Nov 27, after two days of trying to locate a missing body, the arrival of Hardy, Cody and Joe finally located the victim.
This article was taken from: The Malay Mail: News 10 December 2008
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