KOTA KINABALU: A 15-year-old youth drowned in his bid to flee checks by security forces in the east coast town of Lahad Datu on Friday.
Police and army personnel swooped into the town’s central market causing dozens of undocumented foreigners to flee on Friday morning.
The boy appeared to have panicked and jumped into the sea.
Lahad Datu Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency Sandakan chief Kept Maritim Abd Razak Abd Rahman said they were alerted of the incident at 10.40am and rushed two vessels to the area for a search and rescue operation.
He said the youth’s body was discovered at about 2.05pm and taken to the Lahad Datu hospital.
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