A landslide early Friday at a hillside tourist campground in Malaysia left 16 people dead and authorities said 17 others were feared buried at the site on an organic farm outside the capital of Kuala Lumpur. An estimated 94 Malaysians were sleeping at the campsite in Batang Kali in central Selangor state, around 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of Kuala Lumpur, when the incident occurred, said district police chief Suffian Abdullah. He said the death toll has risen to 16, including a five-year-old boy. Seven people have been hospitalized with injuries and rescuers were searching for the estimated 17 missing people, he said. Another 53 people were rescued without harm. Suffian said the victims had entered the area, a popular recreational site for locals to pitch or rent tents from the farm, on Wednesday. More than 400 personnel, including tracking dogs, were involved in the search and rescue efforts. The Selangor fire department said firefighters began arriving at the scene half an hour after receiving a distress call at 2:24 a.m. The landslide fell from the side of a road from an estimated height of 30 meters (98 feet) and covered an area of about three acres (1.2 hectare). The fire department posted photos of rescuers with flashlights digging through soil and rubble in the early hours of the morning. Read more: Newborn among 7 dead in Italian island landslide Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has called for a thorough search and is expected to visit the site late Friday. Local Government Development Minister Nga Kor Ming told local media that the campsite has been operating illegally for the past two years. The operator has government approval to run an organic farm but has no license for camping activities, he said. If found guilty, Nga warned the camp operator could face up to three years in jail and a fine. Some families with young children who were rescued took refuge at a nearby police station. Survivors reportedly said they heard a loud thundering noise before the soil came crashing down. Leong Jim Meng, 57, was quoted by the New Straits Times English-language daily saying he and his family were awakened by a loud bang “that sounded like an explosion” and felt the earth move. “My family and I were trapped as soil covered our tent. We managed to escape to a carpark area and heard a second landslide happening,” he told the newspaper. He said it was surprising because there was no heavy rain in recent days, only light drizzles. Read more: 33 killed in Colombia landslide The campsite is located on an organic farm not far from the Genting Highlands hill resort, a popular tourist destination with theme parks and Malaysia’s only casino. Access to roads leading to the area have been blocked. Authorities have halted outdoor recreational activities in Batang Kali. Nga, the local government development minister, said all campsites nationwide that are situated by rivers, waterfalls and hillsides will be closed for a week to assess their safety amid forecasts of downpours in the next few days. Malaysia is currently experiencing year-end monsoon rains.

Centre for Genocide Studies, University of Dhaka has signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding with Taylor's University, Malaysia and Bangladesh High Commission, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The virtual MoU signing ceremony was held on Monday as a part of the Golden Jubilee of the diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and Malaysia. The goal behind this is to strengthen, enrich and put an official stamp on an ongoing partnership between these two countries.

Malaysia Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri Bin Yaakob has inaugurated the newly refurbished and upgraded Huawei Customer Solution Innovation Center (CSIC)  at Integra Tower of Kuala Lumpur. Huawei Customer Solution Innovation Center (CSIC) was launched as part of the celebrations to commemorate Huawei’s 20th anniversary. PM Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri said, “The CSIC is a testament to Huawei Malaysia’s commitment to the nation’s digital transformation.”  Read: Huawei to invest $50 million to develop 500,000 digital talents in Asia-Pacific He also thanked Huawei for accelerating digital transformation and strengthening the development of Malaysia’s innovative platforms since 20 years ago. Michael Yuan, Chief Executive Officer of Huawei Malaysia, was also present at the event, said a press release. CEO Yuan said this center will act as a catalyst to accelerate Malaysia’s digital transformation and to capitalize on the potential of advanced technologies and assist in driving investments in the digital economy for the nation. Read: Toppers of Huawei's Seeds For The Future 2021 Bangladesh named “Through the CSIC, Huawei will continue to bring global experiences to serve the needs of the ICT industry in Malaysia and to assist local stakeholders in succeeding in their businesses,” the CEO added. Huawei’s CSIC was designed as an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Hub and Centre of Excellence to drive the industry’s open ecosystem and accelerate digital economy transformation in Malaysia.    The state-of-the-art technology and solutions displayed in Huawei Malaysia CSIC aims to assist the nation in becoming the ASEAN Digital Hub. Read Seeds for the Future winners visit Huawei Bangladesh headquarters The CSIC aggregates the company’s over 120 reference applications and services globally. Huawei launched CSIC in Bangladesh in 2016. Since then, it has been playing a pivotal role in ICT through the exchange of the world's best technological knowledge and practices and innovation in business solutions.

Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur has introduced three dedicated mobile phone numbers to make its services easily available for the expatriate community. All Bangladeshi expatriates living in Malaysia have been informed that the High Commission will take prompt action if any request/information is received through these calls. Also read: Bangladesh signs MoU with Malaysia on LNG supply The phone numbers are - 0104303110 (Passport related), 0104303020 (Passport related) and   01126206701 (Labour & Welfare related). Any expatriate Bangladeshi can call from Monday to Friday (9.00am-5.00 pm) to avail themselves of the services.

Bangladesh has sought Malaysian support to finalise a protocol to amend the existing MoU for recruitment of new Bangladeshi workers for the Malaysian market.

Dhaka has urged Kuala Lumpur to do the needful for bringing back the stranded Bangladeshi workers to their old and new places of work in Malaysia on humanitarian grounds. 

Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen on Monday said Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur are in discussion over the return of Bangladeshi workers, who got stuck here due to the COVID-19 pandemic, to their workplaces in Malaysia.