No foul play suspected in deaths of four friends

JOHOR BARU: Police do not suspect any foul play in the deaths of four 21-year-old men who were found together inside their car in a river at Tenggaroh near Mersing here.

Johor police chief Comm Datuk Wan Ahmad Najmuddin Mohd said the bodies were discovered yesterday at about 8.10am by someone who saw an overturned car in the river near KM42 of Jalan Mersing-Kota Tinggi.

The victims were Nik Shakir Zufayri, a student at Institut Sains dan Teknologi Darul Takzim; supermarket employee Luqman Jainie; Abu Izzani Abu Bakar, who studied at Universiti Kuala Lumpur; and Muhammad Asyraf Isa, a student at Akademi Saga in Shah Alam.

Comm Wan Ahmad said the Mersing Fire and Rescue Department and Civil Defence Department personnel were called to the scene.

Fatal plunge: (Clockwise from top left) Nik Shakir, Luqman, Abu Izzani and Muhammad Asyraf were found dead together inside their car in a river at Tenggaroh.

“They pulled out the car where we found the four bodies,” he told a press conference held at Johor Baru North headquarters here.

Comm Wan Ahmad said the Seri Alam police headquarters received four reports lodged by concerned family members on Feb 11, 12, 15 and 16.

The police, he said, would investigate further after getting post-mortem reports from Mersing Hospital.

He said the four friends left their homes in Seri Alam here last Wednesday around 9.30pm for a trip to Terengganu.