KUANTAN, Dec 16 — The Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) has deployed tracker dogs Denti and Frankie in the search for a teenager who is feared to have drowned in a canal at Indera Sempurna here.
Pahang JBPM director Datuk Wan Mohammad Zaidi Wan Isa said they joined the search and rescue (SAR) operation at 8am today.
“The focus for half of the day is in the area where the victim was reported missing, and after that, we may move them downstream until Sungai Belat.
“Other rescue teams have already moved down three kilometres from where the victim was last seen,” he told reporters after inspecting the SAR operation here.
Wan Mohammad Zaidi said 45 personnel from various agencies such as JBPM, police, Malaysian Civil Defence Force (APM) and non-governmental organisations (NGO) are involved in the operation, which entered its second day today.
He urged parents to supervise their children participating in water-based activities this school holiday as the northeast monsoon has started and is expected to last until March next year.
Yesterday, Kuantan district police chief ACP Wan Mohd Zahari Wan Busu said Muhammad Amirul Haikal Che Jaapa, 14, was swept away at about 3.50pm, while bathing with six friends in the canal near his house.
Meanwhile, the victim’s father, Che Jaapa Che Endut, 61, said he was shocked by the incident as he often reminded his youngest of seven sons not to swim in the canal because he was not a good swimmer.
The government pensioner said his son, a student of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Mat Kilau, left home at 3pm yesterday although he normally went out at 5pm to play football.
— Bernama
