Malaysian student drowns in Japan

KUALA LUMPUR: A 21-year-old Malaysian student reportedly drowned while on a picnic with friends at Arakawa River in Saitama, Japan on Thursday.

Muhammad Amirul Ashraf Abdullah, a final year Mechanical Engineering Informatics student at Meiji University, Tokyo, was sponsored by the Mara Education Foundation (YPM).

YPM coordinating unit manager Khairul Amri Masrakin said the incident occurred when the victim was having a picnic with 10 friends near the river.

"The victim and his friends arrived at the picnic area at 4pm. While eight of his friends were preparing ingredients to cook a barbeque, the victim and two friends went to cross the river.

"The victim suddenly drowned in the middle of the river. A friend had reached the other side while the other did not cross the river," he said when contacted.

Khairul Amri said the victim tried to seek help but the other students could not do anything.

An emergency call was made and firefighters arrived at the scene 40 minutes later to conduct a search and rescue operation.

The victim was taken to Fukaya Red Cross Hospital where the medical team conducted cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

He was pronounced dead at 6.30pm.

The Malaysian Embassy and the victim's family were informed of the tragedy by the YPM representative in Japan.

The victim's family will leave for Japan on Friday to bring the remains back to Malaysia. – Bernama