Grief stricken: Shahrizal waters the grave of his brother Muhammad Fikri with rose water after the burial at the Kampung Parit Kuda Islamic Cemetery in Batu Pahat. Johor. — Bernama
BATU PAHAT: Muhammad Fikri Saliman had worked two to three jobs to save enough money for his wedding before a water surge at Jeram Air Putih in Kemaman tragically took his life.
“He was very determined, even before he got engaged he was already working very hard,” said Muhammad Fikri’s elder brother, Shahrizal, 40, when met at the funeral at Kampung Parit Kuda in Semerah here yesterday.
A grief-stricken Shahrizal told Bernama that his 24-year-old younger brother was expecting to get married at the end of this year.
But this was not to be as Muhammad Fikri perished in the water surge along with his fiancee Putri Balqis Izzati Abdul Rahman, 18, while the couple was picnicking with the bride-to-be’s family on July 1 in Terengganu.
All 10 people in the group are believed to have died.
The remains of Muhammad Fikri, the youngest of five siblings, was discovered by a search party at 9.20am on Friday. He was the ninth victim to be recovered.
He was buried at a Muslim cemetery at 7am in the presence of family members and friends.
“We are relieved that his body was found,” said Shahrizal.
With the discovery of Muhammad Fikri’s body, efforts are now centred on locating the last victim, Putri Nor Fatin Karim, 14.
In Kemaman, the Terengganu Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) is focusing on an area where new sandbars and debris have emerged on the river where the water surge had occurred.
“We will focus on the locations that were identified yesterday (Friday) where the earlier victims were found and we will expand the search to nearby areas,” JBPM Zone 2 chief Senior Supt II Azman Alias told Bernama.
“After monitoring the area yesterday, several new sand bars were found along the rapids and these areas will be dug up with the help of four tracker dogs.”
Azman said the operation, involving 250 members, would also thoroughly search the areas that had already been covered in the past week.
“We are going through newly-formed piles of debris that have emerged due to the change in weather and rain,” he said.
Eight other victims, who were Putri Nor Fatin’s siblings and parents, have all been found and they have been laid to rest in their village of Felda Lepar Hilir 3, Kuantan, Pahang.
