KOTA BELUD: A man reported missing while fishing in the Kampung Kadamaian River, near the borders of Kampung Pirasan and Kampung Piasau, was found drowned Thursday.
Md Affendy Mujah, 29, was last seen diving into the river at 1.30am before he was discovered missing.
His body was found by villagers more than seven hours later, around 8.30am, near the location where he was last seen.
Kota Belud Fire and Rescue Station (BBP) Chief Muhammad Syazwan Latun confirmed that the victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
“The fire department, assisted by residents, moved the victim’s body to the riverbank before handing it over to the police for further action,” he said.
The fire department was alerted at 2:19am and a team of 10 personnel, along with emergency vehicles, was deployed to the scene to conduct a search and rescue (SAR) operation using the Surface Search method.
“The search was conducted within a 200-meter radius of the location where the victim was last seen.
The operation was officially called off at 8.50 am after the victim’s body was found,” he said.
The victim had reportedly been fishing with four companions, including family members. They had just finished setting up fishing nets in the river before diving back for spear-fishing.
However, he failed to resurface after 10 minutes, prompting his companions to search for him.
Despite their efforts, they could not locate him and alerted the fire department for assistance.
