KOTA KINABALU: A fishing excursion for five teenage boys turned tragic when one of them drowned in Sabah’s northern Kudat district on Friday (Feb 9).
The victim, only identified as Ryan, 16, had gone with four friends to fish near a dam at Sungai Empangan Milau, off Jalan Garau, when the incident occurred shortly before 3pm.
It was learned the boys were swimming to a land formation in the middle of the river located some 50m from the bank.
The victim, however, was exhausted and drowned.
Kudat Fire and Rescue station chief Ishak Jabas said they were alerted to the incident at 3.01pm.
He said a team of 11 firemen and the Emergency Medical Rescue Services (EMRS) unit were immediately deployed to the area.
On arrival, he said, their team found that villagers had rescued four of the boys.
A search and rescue operation was then launched along the riverbank to locate the victim, he added.
“Our team found the victim’s body not far from where the boy was last seen, at a depth of 3.3m at the bottom of the riverbed at about 5.40pm,” Ishak said.
He said family members had identified the body before the remains were handed to the police for the next course of action
MEANWHILE in KOTA MARUDU: Two contract labourers died after being electrocuted while carrying out work to install fibre-optic cables.
The victims identified as Abi’rafhdi Affendy, 20, and Khomeni Maulana, 32, were believed to have come in contact with a live electricity wire during the incident off Jalan Marak Parak on Tuesday (Feb 6).
Supt Zairolnizal Ishak
Kota Marudu police chief Supt Zairolnizal Ishak said the duo were part of an eight-man team that was carrying a pole to be erected and subsequently to allow the installation of fibre-optic cables belonging to a telecommunications company at 7.30am.
He said there was however an exposed live wire near the site earmarked to put up the pole.
“The pole had touched the wire but some of the workers managed to pull away their hands just in time, although they still suffered burns,” he said, when contacted on Friday (Feb 9).
He said, however, the two victims were later confirmed to have died due to coming in contact with high voltage electricity.
“The public rushed the duo to the Kota Marudu Hospital but a doctor confirmed they had died before arrival at the hospital,” said Supt Zairolnizal.
He added the victims worked for a company in Penampang, near Kota Kinabalu.
There were no visible signs on the bodies to suggest any foul play in the case which has been classified as sudden death, he said.- Star/Talantang
