Sukarno, 50, said there had been a few minor landslides in the area and the last one was on Thursday.
“Suddenly, some rocks fell from the hillside. Fortunately, there were no workers below at the time,” he said when met by Bernama today.
The landslide yesterday killed 11 workers. A Malaysian supervisor is still missing.
Sukarno said they should have realised earlier that the minor landslides were signs that a major landslide could occur.
“However, we (the workers) ignored the minor landslides and continued to work as usual, and thought it was normal, but yesterday, it proved us wrong.”
The native of Sulawesi, Indonesia, said he and his colleagues did not want to work on the site anymore as they were worried about their safety.
“We can search for livelihood anywhere else, but our lives are irreplaceable,” he added.