Cavity in KL’s Masjid India area is not sinkhole, no need to panic, says mayor

KUALA LUMPUR – Fears of another sinkhole in the Masjid India area in Kuala Lumpur have been quashed by the city’s mayor, who said the latest incident was a case of ground settlement.

Mayor Maimunah Mohd Sharif said

the incident that happened at about 8.40am on Nov 10

in Jalan Bunus was only a case of ground settlement and not a repeat of 2024’s tragedy where an Indian tourist fell into a sinkhole.

The Indian tourist’s body was never found despite 

frantic search operations

lasting nine days by dozens of municipal and federal workers in large sewer tunnels carrying swift-flowing water from heavy rain upstream.

Datuk Seri Maimunah said early checks found no burst pipes or underground leaks. She assured the public the situation is stable and that there is no cause for alarm.

“When I went to the site at 2pm. We opened up the tiles around the area to see if there were any leaking pipes and, thankfully, there were none. It also rained this morning and we wanted to (check) whether there was loose soil.

“We have to find out the cause of the ground settlement. But there is no need to panic; it’s not a sinkhole,” Ms Maimunah told The Star.

She added that Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) had just appointed a geotechnical consultant to monitor the site.

Just over two weeks after the authorities revealed the true cause of 2024’s Masjid India sinkhole, a ground settlement occurred in the same area, raising fresh questions about the stability of ageing underground infrastructure in the city centre.

Teams from DBKL, the Kuala Lum­pur Fire and Rescue Department, Air Selangor, Indah Water Kon­sortium and the Dang Wangi district police were on site to carry out investigations in the incident.

For safety reasons, Jalan Masjid India was temporarily closed to all vehicles from Lorong Masjid India 4 to the affected stretch.

By 6pm, contractors had patched up the affected portion of the road. The stretch has reopened to traffic.

Monitoring and technical assessments are ongoing, and further updates will be issued in due course.

On Oct 24, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Zaliha Mustafa told Parliament that investigations by a special task force revealed that 2024’s incident was caused by the

failure of a corroded sewer pipe structure

, worsened by soil instability, and not the presence of limestone as initially feared.

She added that the task force presented its full findings to the Cabinet in August, while DBKL is preparing a public report to be released by the end of 2025.

In response to increasing public concern, DBKL has begun geotechnical studies along key routes in the city’s Golden Triangle shopping and entertainment district to determine soil profiles and stability. Early findings show that no locations are currently classified as high-risk.

Indian tourist G. Vijayalakshmi, 48, went missing after she fell into an 8m-deep sinkhole that suddenly opened beneath her feet on the morning of Aug 23, 2024.
THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK