Toddler drowns after falling into river

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The toddler’s mother and stepfather (partially hidden) arriving at the hospital with his body.

KOTA SAMARAHAN: A two-year-old toddler drowned in a river here on Tuesday while his mother and stepfather were busy looking for recyclable items.

The incident occurred around noon at Kampung Plaie when a group of nine family members and relatives arrived at the village in a small boat to scavenge for recyclables at a waste disposal ground.

According to the 18-year-old stepfather, he and his wife had headed for the disposal ground together with her two younger brothers, leaving the toddler under the care of four of his nieces and nephews in the boat.

The group had been scrounging for roughly 30 minutes when one of his nieces came running up to them to inform that the toddler Mohd Azril Firdaus Adam had fallen out of the boat.

Everyone rushed back to the river and frantically searched for Mohd Azril, eventually retrieving him from the bottom of the river after several attempts.

The boy’s mother and stepfather rushed the unresponsive child to a government clinic where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Police classified the incident as sudden death and sent the toddler’s body to Sarawak General Hospital for a post-mortem the same night.