A fall into the pit

Fire and rescue departments use crane to dig after receiving reports that a woman has fallen into the sinkhole after a section of the sidewalk caved in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Aug 23. Kuala Lumpur should establish a comprehensive underground mapping system for city infrastructure and utilities, if it does not already have one, said Malaysian experts and politicians. President of the Institution of Engineers Malaysia, or IEM, Jeffrey Chiang Choong Luin, said the recent sinkhole that swallowed 48-year-old Indian tourist Vijaya Lakshmi in Jalan Masjid India, or "Little India", in the city center of Kuala Lumpur, highlighted urgent need for action. In 2020, The Star reported that then Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Nor Hisham Ahmad Dahlan had ordered an interagency study with utility companies to map out the extensive network of underground cables and pipes in the capital city, prompted by the increasing number of sinkholes. Nor Hisham said that while Kuala Lumpur had developed a basic framework for addressing such issues, significant challenges remained due to aging infrastructure, some of which were over 50 years old.