Five-year-old boy drowns in Johor river

JOHOR BARU: A five-year-old boy has drowned at the Skudai River here.

Skudai Fire and Rescue Department operation commander Saifulbahri Safar said the victim is believed to be an autistic child and was reported missing near Jalan Kampung Sepakat Baru, Skudai at 5.59pm on Wednesday (May 1).

“Seven firemen from the Skudai fire station launched a search and rescue mission to look for the boy starting from 6.13pm on the same day.

“After conducting a search along the river bank and water surface, we found the boy’s body hours later at 11.15pm, about 130m from where he was last seen,” Saifulbahri said in a statement.

He added that the location where the victim was found was about 4m deep.

The victim’s body has been handed over to the police for the necessary procedure, he added.