KANOWIT, April 26: Villagers discovered the body of a seven-year-old boy feared drowned while taking a bath with his grandparents in Sungai Ngemah Nanga Jagau on April 23 here this morning.
According to Kanowit Fire and Rescue Department chief, Arrahman Chik, the body was spotted floating in the river at 8.45am today by Sungai Ngemah residents about 3km from where the boy had gone missing.
Firefighters and local residents recovered the body from the river. The remains were later sent to the boy’s longhouse to be identified by family members.
Following the discovery of the body, the search and rescue operation was called off and the case referred to the police for further action.
On April 23, the boy was taking a bath with his grandparents in the river in the late afternoon.
However, around 4.30pm, the grandmother lost grip of the boy as she was walking up the riverbank and he was swept away by strong river currents.
The grandparents immediately sought help from the longhouse residents who wasted no time to conduct a two-hour intensive search using three longboats but they failed to find the missing boy.
Arrahman revealed that initially, the boy’s parents and longhouse chief did not dare seek help from the Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) and police as they feared they would be violating the movement control order.
However, following a discussion with the longhouse chief, both the police and Bomba mounted a search and rescue operation to look for the missing boy. — DayakDaily
