Firefighters conduct water surface search to locate the victim.
KUCHING: A 62-year-old man is feared to have drowned after falling into Sarawak River earlier today.
Witnesses said the victim Bujang Abdullah was seen relieving himself before falling into the waters. He was last seen at Pengkalan Panjang at around 12.10am.
Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) state assistant operations director Tiong Ling Hii said a search and rescue (SAR) operation has been activated to locate the victim.
It is understood that Bujang’s disappearance was realised by a security personnel on duty, who then contacted the authorities to report about the emergency.
Kuching station firefighters were deployed to locate the victim. A surface search was conducted but found no trace of the victim due to the darkness.
At press time 11.30am the SAR operation involved a scuba team to help search the riverbed.
According to Tiong, the search operation has been expanded to about one kilometre from where the victim fell in.