Three boys drown in separate tragedies in Johor

JOHOR BARU: Two separate incidents of drowning have resulted in the loss of three young lives at Sungai Masai and Sungai Skudai.

In the first incident, two boys were reported to have drowned along Sungai Masai here, near Seri Intan Flats at Bandar Seri Alam, on Friday night.

Pasir Gudang fire and rescue station operations commander Sarhan Akmal Mohamad said they recovered the body of the first victim, 11-year-old Mohd Danish Ahmad, at 5.06am.

The second victim, Zahir Ajmal Mohd Idris, 13, was found at 7.38am.

“The two bodies were found around 50m from where they had been reported missing,” he added yesterday.

Sarhan Akmal said they had received a distress call about the incident at around 11.30pm on Friday before a team of 19 firemen was dispatched to the scene.

The two bodies have been handed over to the police for further action.

In the second incident, a 14-year-old boy, identified as Amirul Ikhwan Muhammad Khairul Amin, drowned while fishing at Sungai Skudai, near a fast-food restaurant at Jalan Merbau 3, Bandar Putra, on Friday.

Bandar Baru Kulai fire station operations commander senior fire officer II Baharuddin Mohd Omar said the team carried out its search-and-rescue mission using the surface searching technique.

“The victim’s body was found by firefighters at 5.54pm at the spot where he was reported to have drowned,” he said, adding that the body was then handed over to the police.

Baharuddin said a distress call about the incident was received at 4.53pm before six firefighters were rushed to the scene.

Kulai OCPD Supt Tok Beng Yeow said the initial investigation found that the victim had gone fishing with friends, aged between 14 and 16, underneath the Lebuh Putra Utama bridge.

“While walking through the river, the victim unknowingly stepped onto quicksand, causing him to be dragged under,” he said.