Tragic end to search for missing boy

Devastating discovery: The 34-hour search for Zayn Rayyan has come to a tragic end. — Photo sourced from social media

PETALING JAYA: A six-year-old autistic boy, who went missing near his home, has been found dead about 34 hours after his disappearance.

The body of Zayn Rayyan Abdul Matiin was discovered in a river near his home at Idaman Apartment in Damansara Damai at about 10pm yesterday, Petaling Jaya OCPD Asst Comm Mohamad Fakhrudin Abdul Hamid said.

Prior to that, a team of 40 police personnel, along with 60 residents, split into groups to comb over 18 blocks consisting of 2,484 housing units at Idaman Apartment to search for the boy.

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They even conducted door-to-door searches despite the rainy night.

Zayn Rayyan, who was non-verbal, was last seen near Block R of the Idaman Apartment complex along PJU 10/1 at around noon on Tuesday. He was wearing a white collared T-shirt with the SK Damansara Damai 2 emblem on it and a black tracksuit and black shoes.

His mother Ismanira Abdul Manaf had made a plea via a Facebook post, asking the public to keep watch for him.

According to a neighbour, Chezaiton Abd Aziz, the boy was with his mother walking home from a nearby park.

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“The mother had her hands full with things and was walking ahead of the boy. When she turned around to check on her son, he was no longer there,” she shared, adding that Zayn had wanted to play at the park.

ACP Mohamad Fakhrudin earlier said that police received a report about the missing boy at 6.36pm on Tuesday.

Police, he said, had enlisted the help of the Fire and Rescue Department, Malaysian Civil Defence Force and the K9 (Dog Detection Unit) tracker dog.

“Neighbours have also joined in the search and rescue,” he said then.