Senior fire officer Shahari Shamsuddin, 47, among the first rescuers to find the bodies, said it was one of the most striking experiences of his 23 years of service in the fire and rescue department.

“When I found them hugging each other, I thought about my own daughter. Subhanallah, I cannot imagine if this heartbreaking incident happened to my family.

“When it came to extricating the bodies, I had to hold back my tears. As rescue personnel, I have to control my emotions, but as a normal human being, it’s hard to deal with this feeling,” he said.

Recounting the moment, Shahari said he arrived at the scene at 10am and was deployed with 30 others to locate the bodies of victims in the red zone.

He said the rescuers had to battle thick mud that made their movement difficult. The main challenge also concerned land stability at the disaster area because of underground water flow.

The team had to take utmost care in using heavy machinery at the landslide location to prevent damaging the bodies still under the earth, he added.

Senior fire officer Shaiful Nizam Rosdy, 39, who was on duty at the scene in Sector C, admitted that the operation was very difficult because of the soil structure.

“Uncertain weather is among the biggest challenges and sometimes we do not even realise that we are standing on the buried victims,” said Shaiful, who has been with the fire and rescue department for 17 years.

The landslide tragedy at the Father’s Organic Farm campsite in Gohtong Jaya, Batang Kali, on Friday has claimed 24 lives, with nine still missing.