KOTA KINABALU: A man was found drowned after going missing while fishing in the Kampung Pitas Bombalai River in Tawau on Sunday (June 16) afternoon.
Identified as Arippin Daud, the 49-year-old was reported to have gone fishing at 6am.
However, suspicion grew when villagers found his boat unmanned at 11am.
Tawau Fire and Rescue Services Station chief Jemishin Ujin said they received a distress call about the missing person at 2.06pm.
He stated that five men were deployed to the scene to conduct a search and rescue operation.
“Upon arrival, the team, along with the police, immediately began the operation using the ‘surface water rescue’ technique.
“The victim was found by villagers near his boat at 3.53pm and was confirmed dead by the police,” he said in a statement on Monday (June 17).
Jemishin added that the victim’s body was then handed over to the police and taken to the hospital for postmortem.
“The fire department conducted a final inspection at the scene before concluding the operation at 3.55pm,” he said.
