The aftermath of a landslide that occurred on December 16, 2022 at a holiday campsite in Batang Kali, Selangor, Malaysia. Rescue workers are searching for survivors after the disaster killed at least 24 people as December 18, 2022. Photo: VCG

 Malaysian police have called in staff members from an unlicensed campsite to assist in an investigation into a landslide that flattened the camp grounds and killed at least 24 people, as the search for missing people continued for a third day on Sunday.

The victims, including seven children, died after a landslide tore through the campsite early on Friday while they slept in tents at Batang Kali, a popular hilly area about 50 kilometers north of capital Kuala Lumpur.

Of the 94 people caught in the landslide, 61 were safe and nine still missing, the Selangor state fire and rescue department said.

Search and rescue teams have increased the number of excavators and rescue dogs to find campers who may be trapped under mud and debris, with heavy rain raising concern of further landslides.

Hulu Selangor police chief Suffian Abdullah said police have questioned the operator and two workers of the campsite at Father's Organic Farm.

Authorities have said its owners were allowed to operate organic farms, but had not applied for licences to run three campsites on the property. The farm owners did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"Our hearts are closely connected with you, may the deceased rest in peace... Pray for the survivors and the injured," it said on Facebook in a statement addressing victims and their families.

State fire and rescue chief Norazam Khamis on Saturday said the chance of finding more survivors was slim given the lack of oxygen and weight of mud pressing down on the site.

An initial investigation showed an embankment of around 450,000 cubic meters of earth had collapsed. The earth fell from an estimated height of 30 meters and covered an area of about an acre.

On Saturday night, the family of 31-year-old Nurul Azwani Kamarulzaman, who perished in the tragedy, grieved as they held her funeral at a cemetery in Kuala Lumpur.

Nurul Azwani, a kitchen helper at a school canteen, was on a two-night trip with teachers and students. She was scheduled to return on Friday, the day of the disaster.

"We never expected a natural disaster to happen," her brother-in-law, Mohd Shazwan Ashraf Mohamad Saberi, told Reuters. "We are still unable to process this."

Landslides are common in Malaysia after heavy rains, which are regular at the end of the year.

However, no heavy rains were recorded in the area on the night of the disaster.

Nor Shahidah Mohd Nazer, a geology expert from the National University of Malaysia, described the landslide as "unprecedented" under the circumstances, involving a gentler slope and not following typical heavy rain.

She said the slope could have been partly affected by monsoon rain from days or even weeks ago.

"Since the soil mass was initially wet and saturated, it behaved as a semi-liquid," she told AFP.

In March, four people were killed after a massive landslide triggered by heavy rains buried their homes in a Kuala Lumpur suburb.

Agencies