KUCHING, Aug 15 : The body of 25-year-old engineer Kelvin Lau Ben Song, whose pick=up truck plunged from the Batang Lassa bridge in Daro on Friday (Aug 13) was found today.
The Search and Rescue (SAR) team from Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) Daro fire station found Lau’s body between nipah trees along the river bank some 6km away from the bridge and about 3km from the mouth of Sungai Daro at about 9.40am.
The Bomba operations centre in a statement disclosed, on Aug 13, they received an emergency call at 4.45am that a pick up truck with a driver had fallen off the 800-meter long bridge which is still under construction.
It was learnt that the incident happened at the 10th arch (pole) and that the river is about 12 metres’ deep during high tide.
Daro police chief DSP Neil Beginda identified the driver as Lau, who is an engineer with the company constructing the bridge.
The vehicle involved also belongs to the same company.
According to Bomba, eyewitnesses said the vehicle which was on the bridge was moving towards land when it suddenly rammed past the safety barrier before falling into the river, and the vehicle was nowhere to be seen after that.
On the second day of the SAR operation, apart from surface search with grappling iron, Bomba divers who were deployed to the location also made three diving attempts.
They found the vehicle’s windshield pierced with part of the iron barrier at about 11.15am.
Following the discovery, they continued to search for the vehicle with the help of a ship crane.
By 4.32pm, the vehicle was found and successfully pulled out of the river. However, Lau was not inside the vehicle.
SAR operations for Lau continued today until the discovery of his body at 9.40am. — DayakDaily
