My Longkang

Selama Itam could only watch in horror and in total helplessness when scores of looters looted a longboat under cover of darkness. Her dead husband was still trapped inside and the callous people who came in longboats, cars and four wheel drives trampled all over the long boat and presumably her dead husband.

The cargo boat was raised from the bottom of the Rajang River near Jalan Lanang on Wednesday night. The widow could be seen crying her heart out. it was like a supermarket left open for looters. People took the opportunity to loot and all pretense of law and order was dropped. It was frightening in the sense that it was like being in no man’s land. The police had abandoned the boat and presumably the body.

The widow and family members had hoped the police would guard the boat that night but they didn’t. At one stage it looked like another major tragedy would occur. The crowds refused to leave the boat until they had finished their business. Some tried to bring some order back to the scene as it seemed to be dangerous at one point with the extra weight of the crowds on the longboat, it seemed like the cable holding up the boat would not hold and cause a bigger tragedy.

What were the looters mainly carrying? beer, soft drinks, food stuff