The Bakun and Murum Dam Safety Committee wants a thorough study to be conducted and close monitoring of the melioidosis disease outbreaks in the Bakun hydroelectric dam and Murum dam project areas.

Its chairman Dr Elli Luhat said the committee was prepared to cooperate with any relevant government agency in ensuring that the disease would not spread to other areas including around Batang Rajang.

"I was made to understand that the virus could easily be carried by water. As water from Bakun and Murum flows to Sibu town and beyond, we want to know whether the disease could reach such areas.

"This, we need to study," he told reporters in Kuching today.

Elli said the non-governmental organisation was worried over the number of melioidosis cases involving workers near the Bakun dam project, whereby six people in the area were reported to have died from the disease.

He said although some residents had linked the deaths to some mythical stories, serious attention must be given to the disease outbreaks as this had never happened in the Bakun and Murum areas before.

On behalf of Long Wat residents, Elli said about 400 of them were still waiting for compensation when their ancestral gravesite was submerged due to the Murum dam project.

He said that in 2009, they were informed by the state government through the Sarawak Museum Department that 15 affected households at the longhouse would receive RM680,000 in compensation for their loss.

"The affected residents want the compensation as well as interest on the arrears which they should have received, to enable them to conduct a rite to appease the souls of their ancestors affected by the project," he added.

- Bernama