Boy: Sister drowned trying to retrieve my pants

KUANTAN: Ten-year-old Mohamad Aiman Haki­mi Zuhairi recounts how his sister fell into a pond and drowned while trying to retrieve his pants.

“I told my sister to leave the pants in the pond, but she tried to retrieve it anyway,” said Mohamad Aiman, the brother of 12-year-old Salsabila, who drowned in a former bauxite mining pond in Taman Sungai Karang Jaya, Sungai Karang, near here.

Two others who met the same fate were their brother Mahathir Mohamad, seven, and a friend, Nureen Ain Juwita Mohd Sharif, 10.

Narrating the moments before the fateful event at 5pm, Mohamad Aiman said he and his siblings, with four others, went to play in the area for first time.

“I saw a piece of black rubber and tried to reach for it before falling into the pond. I almost drowned but managed to save myself by swimming out.

“However, my pants came off and my sister tried to reach for it,” he said at the Tengku Am­­puan Afzan Hospital (HTAA) Forensic Unit here yesterday.

But, he said his sister slipped and fell, prompting Nureen Ain and Mahathir to try and rescue her.

“But, they too fell and drowned,” he said.

Mohamad Aiman said he froze in shock for a while before running to the houses nearby for help.

Nureen Ain’s father Mohd Sharif Awang Ngah, 50, said he didn’t think that his only daughter would join in the other boys at the pond.

The security guard said a villager informed him of what happened at about 6.30pm.

Zam Abdul Rahman, 37, from Taman Sungai Ka­­rang Jaya was among those who rushed to the pond.

“When I reached the place, the bodies of two of the children had been pulled out by other villagers.

“I tried to revive them but failed. Nureen Ain was still in the pond, so I rushed home to fetch my safety vest,” Zam said.

He then helped find Nureen Ain’s body at the bottom of the pond.

Zam said the pond was deep.

“Even I nearly drowned while looking for the body,” he added. — Bernama