Malaysian landslide kills three, nine feared buried

Three people have been killed and nine others are feared buried in a landslide that hit a housing estate in suburban Kuala Lumpur, state media said Saturday.

Police said that a woman and a child had died in the landslide which hit in the early hours of the morning, burying 14 houses at the upmarket Bukit Antarabangsa estate, the official Bernama news agency reported.

The landslide cut off access to residential streets, trapping hundreds of residents, it said.

A search and rescue operation has been mounted involving personnel from the military, fire departments and disaster response teams.

The landslide occurred after days of heavy rains in the area, which is prone to slippages.

Four people were killed and 43 homes destroyed in a nearby suburb in June 2006.

And in 1993 a landslide triggered by heavy rains caused the nearby 12-storey Highland Towers condominium to collapse, killing 48 people -- mostly children and maids who were left at home while parents were at work.