By Wendy John
KANOWIT, Mar 6: A 12-year-old boy was found drowned in a fish pond near his longhouse Rumah Juckine Saing, Jagoi today.
The body of Thomas Nyawai Juckine was discovered at around 1.30pm by his stepfather, Juckine Jenang, 66, and several longhouse residents.
They had rushed to search for him after being informed by his classmate that he was nowhere to be seen when they were fishing in the pond before the incident.
Kanowit district police chief DSP Tega Bilong said the victim, along with a classmate, had gone fishing in the pool after returning home from from school at noon time.
“The victim’s stepfather was alerted by his classmate that he last saw him playing in the fish pond near their their longhouse at around 12.30am. Together with several longhouse folk they ran to the pond to search for him,” he said.
After an hour’s frantic search, they found him in the pond but he was then breathless.
They rushed him to Kanowit Hospital but was pronounced dead by a doctor at 2pm.
It was learned that the victim, the youngest of three siblings in the family, would often go fishing after school with his classmates even though he was not very good at swimming.
“The case is classified as sudden death (SDR),” said Tega. —DayakDaily
