Chosen family: Noor Cahayati (left) with her family and Eric (third from right) in her home during a dinner in appreciation of Eric’s bravery.
KOTA KINABALU: It was a split-second decision and a daring rescue. But thanks to the heroic act, two families of different religious and racial backgrounds will be bonded for life.
Eric Perimus, a native Dusun, was having an outing by a riverside with his friends one sunny Sunday when he heard screams for help: two brothers were drowning.
He saw some men jumping into Sungai Sinaron in the interior Sook district to rescue the boys.
However, all of them returned to the riverbank without the kids.
“At that time, everyone was panicking including myself ... I just jumped in and got the boys out,” said the 23-year-old mechanic.
There was only one thing on Eric’s mind then: rescuing the siblings – Muhammad Ashraf Ariel, 14, and Muhamad Ashran, 13.
“I do not know how I got the strength to grab the two boys out of the river and swim to the riverbank with both of them in my arms, one each on my left and right,” he said, adding that he remembered asking God for help and thinking “whatever happens, happens”.
Once he reached the riverbank, he could feel his whole body shivering, possibly from the adrenaline rush and his own fear as well.“I thank God that all of us are safe,” he said.
Eric, who also helped rescue a drowning boy at the Bunsit river in Keningau district last year, said he went on with his own activities after saving the two teenagers.
“I did not give it further thought,” he said.
The boys’ family were also busy checking on them.
They did not manage to speak to him after the ordeal on the morning of March 3.
But a day later, it dawned on the boys’ mother, Noor Cahayati Liman, 39, to get in touch with the hero who rescued her children.The native Murut housewife went on social media to seek information about the brave stranger.All she had was a very blurry photo of Eric that was taken by her daughter during the commotion that fateful day.
With that photo, she managed to locate Eric, thanks to the industriousness of Internet sleuths.
Noor Cahayati successfully got in touch with Eric from that point, thanking him for rescuing her children and inviting him over for dinner.
“I owe Eric so much ... My sons’ lives were saved because of him.
“I do not know if they would still be alive if it wasn’t for this young man,” she said.
Noor Cahayati, who has two other children besides the saved pair, said this Ramadan is more meaningful for her because her family had gained a new member and friend in Eric through such an unexpected, albeit scary, encounter.
Noor Cahayati said she hopes that her family’s relationship with Eric would be an enduring one.
“It doesn’t matter if we are of a different race and religion ... We are all human beings,” she said.
