KOTA KINABALU: A fishing excursion for five teenage boys turned tragic when one of them drowned in Sabah’s northern Kudat district on Friday (Feb 9).
The victim, only identified as Ryan, 16, had gone with four friends to fish near a dam at Sungai Empangan Milau, off Jalan Garau, when the incident occurred shortly before 3pm.
It was learned the boys were swimming to a land formation in the middle of the river located some 50m from the bank.
The victim, however, was exhausted and drowned.
Kudat Fire and Rescue station chief Ishak Jabas said they were alerted to the incident at 3.01pm.
He said a team of 11 firemen and the Emergency Medical Rescue Services (EMRS) unit were immediately deployed to the area.
On arrival, he said, their team found that villagers had rescued four of the boys.
A search and rescue operation was then launched along the riverbank to locate the victim, he added.
“Our team found the victim’s body not far from where the boy was last seen, at a depth of 3.3m at the bottom of the riverbed at about 5.40pm,” Ishak said.
He said family members had identified the body before the remains were handed to the police for the next course of action.
