8 theSun | TUESDAY DECEMBER 2 2008

news without borders

Remains of siege
victim arrive home

BERNANAPIX
by Charles Ramendran
newsdesk@thesundaily.com

KUALA LUMPUR: The

remains of 51-year-old medical
insurance underwriter Hemalatha
Kasipillay, the Malaysian killed
in a fire during an attack by
terrorists at the Taj Mahal Palace
Hotel in Mumbai, arrived at
KL International Airport early
yesterday.
Her husband, K. Sivakumaran,
said the remains were taken to
a funeral parlour and will be
brought to his father-in-law’s
house on Lorong Limau Manis,
Bangsar today after the couple’s
children, Nishalini, 19, and
Dhinesh, 18, who are pursuing
medical studies in Volgograd,
Russia, return to Malaysia.
He said the remains will be
cremated according to Hindu rites
at the Cheras crematorium at
2.30pm tomorrow.
Hemalatha, who was with
German reinsurance firm
Hannover Life Re, where she had Sivakumaran expressed his The casket
worked for almost 20 years, was disappointment with both the bearing the
on a business trip in Mumbai Malaysian and Indian authorities remains of
when the terrorists attacked a for failing to inform him of the Hemalatha
number of targets in the west death of his wife or making full arrives at
Indian city. efforts to search for her. the MAS
She was initially reported He said although Malaysia’s Cargo
missing until her charred body consul-general in Mumbai, Wan Complex
was found in a room at the Taj Zaidi Wan Abdullah, was helpful at KLIA
Mahal Palace Hotel three days when he went to Mumbai, it was yesterday
after the terrorists began the siege Hemalatha’s colleagues there who morning.
on Thursday. had gone through great trouble to
Hemalatha was among the locate her body and assist him in
172 people killed in the incident. sending the remains home.
A post mortem revealed she “Most of the arrangements
had died of smoke inhalation. were done by the family and
The attacks also saw 293 people her colleagues and friends,”
injured. Sivakumaran told theSun.

Landslide report ready in three months

KUALA LUMPUR: The Public Works Department
(PWD) expects to take three months to complete
a report on Sunday’s landslide incident in Hulu
Yam, which claimed the lives of two sisters.
A spokesman for PWD’s slope engineering
division told Bernama that PWD officers had
gone to the site yesterday to carry out initial
investigations.
The investigations will, among other things,
cover the forensic aspect.
The committee, comprising officers from
the Department of Survey and Mapping, Min-
eral and Geoscience Department, Local Govern-
ment and Housing Ministry, state PWD, state
Drainage and Irrigation Department and the
Hulu Selangor District Council, will hold its first
meeting tomorrow.
Noratirah Roslan, 16, and her sister Nurul
Intan Sarina, nine, were buried alive when the
slope at the back of their house in Hulu Yam
Perdana collapsed and crashed on the house.
Their parents and three other siblings were
unhurt in the 5.30am incident.
An architect at the Hulu Selangor District
Council, Abd Wahab Abd Hamid, said the project’s
certificate of fitness was approved in 2001 and
handed over to the developer in 2003.
“However, the project is still under the
developer’s responsibility,” he said, adding that
the local authorities had yet to approve other
infrastructure development in the housing area.
– Bernama

No foul play in Syed Alwi’s Police have leads to murder

death
KUALA LUMPUR: Police have ruled out foul
play in the death of national laureate Datuk
Syed Alwi Syed Hassan who was found dead
at his home in Kampung Sungai Serai, Kuang,
Rawang near here on Sunday.
Selangor CID chief SAC II Hasnan Hassan said
the post-mortem result released at 11.15am
yesterday indicated the 78-year-old Syed Alwi
died of head injuries after falling down.
“As he fell, he knocked over a table causing
medicine bottles placed on it to fall,” he said.
Meanwhile, Gombak police chief ACP Abdul
Rahim Abdullah said a skull fracture near his
right ear could have been caused by his head
hitting a flowerpot as he fell.
Among friends who came to pay their last
respects were Angeline Tan of “Pi Mai Pi Mai
Tang Tu” fame, Farid Amirul Hisham Abdullah
of the hit television series “Gerak Khas” and
thespian Datuk Rahim Razali. – Bernama
of Sri Lankan
KAJANG: Police have positive leads to
solving the horiffic attack on a Sri Lankan
student who died five days after a gang of
parang-wielding assailants set upon him at
Taman Tasik Semenyih last Wednesday.
Sarankan Srikandarajah, 22, a final-year
student at Nottingham University in Kajang,
was having a meal at the Forest Bar restau-
rant on Jalan Broga with three friends about
3.45pm when 10 attackers who came in
cars began slashing them.
The assailants also waylaid a car min-
utes later about 2km away and attacked
another student, M. Senthuran, who was in
the vehicle. Senthuran received 45 stitches
on his legs, hands and back.
Kajang police chief ACP Shakaruddin
Che Mood said police have several positive
leads and are confident they will lead them
to the culprits.