By DayakDaily Team
BARAM, Oct 3: A search and rescue (SAR) team, including 26 villagers, has been scouring riverbanks, forests, and caves in search of a 40-year-old man who went missing while hunting in Kampung Long Laput since Sept 29, but no positive signs of his whereabouts have been found.
The missing hunter, identified as Michael Asun Atang, has yet to be found as the SAR operation, led by commander PBK II Ramzai Talip of the Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) Marudi, entered its third day yesterday (Oct 2).
One team, alongside 14 villagers, scoured the riverbanks from Kampung Long Laput in four boats, while another team, with eight villagers, searched the forest on foot, crossing the river to the area where Michael was last seen with his friends.
A third team, utilising three 4WD vehicles, searched the stretch from Kampung Long Laput to the operation post.
Additionally, a 12-member team, including firefighters, police, Civil Defence Force (APM) personnel, and villagers, advanced their search to the caves of Lubang Askar, Lumut, Lawai 1, Lawai 2, Lawai 3, and Sungai Aru, all located in three separate locations.
The search also extended outside the cave systems and along the roads leading to the junction.
The search efforts face significant challenges, including the remote location of the incident site, slippery logging roads made worse by rain, uneven terrain riddled with potholes that have caused vehicles to get stuck, dense forests, and has no communication networks.
The missing man had gone out hunting at around 1pm on Sept 27. While two of his friends returned to the village, the man did not, prompting his family to lodge a police report on Sept 29.
The villagers’ efforts that day to locate the man only resulted in them finding the man’s clothes hanging on an oil palm tree.
The distance between the village and the location where the victim was hunting is around an hour and thirty minutes by foot. — DayakDaily
