CHRONOLOGY · DISASTER · HILLSIDE DEVELOPMENT
A chronology from the collapse of Block 1 and the 48 lives lost through the rescue, legal battles, local-authority immunity debate and the 2026 decision to demolish the two remaining blocks.
A chronology from the collapse of Block 1 and the 48 lives lost through the rescue, legal battles, local-authority immunity debate and the 2026 decision to demolish the two remaining blocks.
The 12-storey residential block in Hulu Kelang collapses at about midday after days of heavy rain. The disaster kills 48 people and prompts immediate evacuation of the other two blocks.
As of October 2026, MPAJ has court clearance to proceed and has said it wants the blocks demolished within the year, after which the site is intended to become recreational and green space.
Each step is dated and sourced. Statements, allegations, decisions and confirmed actions stay labelled separately so the timeline does not turn one side's claim into an established fact.
The 12-storey residential block in Hulu Kelang collapses at about midday after days of heavy rain. The disaster kills 48 people and prompts immediate evacuation of the other two blocks.
Local rescuers are joined by foreign teams as crews search the rubble while also worrying about the stability of the neighbouring towers.
Three people were pulled out alive; one of the three later died from injuries. The search became one of the country's defining urban-disaster responses.
The disaster quickly became a wider debate about hillside planning, drainage, slope maintenance and whether approvals and monitoring had been strong enough.
Heavy rain was the immediate trigger, but Highland Towers became a long-running Malaysian reference point for the interaction between extreme weather, development decisions and slope-management failures.
The two surviving towers are never returned to normal residential use, beginning a decades-long dispute over safety, ownership, responsibility and demolition.
The Highland Towers litigation becomes a major reference point in Malaysian debates about local-authority accountability under Section 95 of the Street, Drainage and Building Act 1974.
The Malaysian Bar has repeatedly cited the case in arguing that local-authority immunity can create an accountability gap in hillside-development disasters.
A later landslide within MPAJ's area kills five people, reinforcing public concern that Highland Towers had not ended Malaysia's struggle with hillside risk.
The council says it must seek further court authority because the original landowner has been wound up, illustrating how ownership and insolvency issues prolonged the site's unresolved status.
MPAJ says the remaining two blocks can now be demolished and targets completion of the demolition before the end of 2026.
The actual demolition method remains subject to technical review and coordination with parties linked to ownership and insolvency.
The council says no future development is planned for the Highland Towers site once the remaining blocks are removed.
Highland Towers became a recurring reference point in Malaysian legal and planning debates about drainage, slope maintenance, development approvals and hillside monitoring.
The Federal Court's treatment of local-authority immunity under the Street, Drainage and Building Act became a recurring legal and policy issue after later landslides.
As of October 2026, MPAJ has court clearance to proceed and has said it wants the blocks demolished within the year, after which the site is intended to become recreational and green space.
01Will the remaining blocks actually be demolished by the end of 2026?
02How will the site be memorialised once the structures are removed?
03Has Malaysia closed the accountability gaps exposed by Highland Towers, or mainly improved technical slope management?
04How should local-authority legal immunity be balanced against public accountability when approvals or maintenance fail?
01Final demolition plan and method.
02Physical demolition of Blocks 2 and 3.
03MPAJ's design for the future green/recreational site.
04Any memorial or archival project preserving the history of the 48 victims.
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