KUALA LUMPUR • The wife of Selangor's Chief Minister has apologised after her Instagram post was slammed for being insensitive to millions of people affected by water cuts in the Malaysian state.

Screenshots of the post by Datin Seri Masdiana Muhamad, The Rakyat Post said yesterday, showed a picture of a water tanker parked in front of the family home with a hose running up the driveway. Another picture, captioned "When there's no water", showed her family swimming in their pool at home.

Millions of residents and businesses in parts of Selangor and the capital Kuala Lumpur have been without water since last Thursday as a result of unscheduled water supply cuts. Four water treatment plants had to be shut down after pollution was detected in Sungai Gong.

When contacted by The Rakyat Post, Madam Masdiana, whose husband Amirudin Shari heads the state government, apologised and promised to help other residents who have yet to have their water supply restored.

"As a mother, I just wanted to express my gratitude to the Air Selangor front-line staff who have been working hard for the past few days. It was not my intention to brag," she told the news site.

"I apologise if such actions have created any misinterpretations and offended anybody."

Officials from water authority Air Selangor have said the supply disruption was caused by pollution from a factory, and that it would take at least four days for water services to be fully restored.

As of yesterday morning, supply had been restored to nearly one-third of affected areas, The Star reported.

Selangor state and the federal territory of Kuala Lumpur are the most densely populated areas in Malaysia, with about seven million people.

Photos on social media showed thousands of people in many areas queueing to fill up pails and bottles from water tankers. Meanwhile, bottled drinking water has been flying off supermarket shelves.