KUCHING: A Form 5 school leaver is feared to have drowned after he and a friend attempted to swim across the Sarawak River to get back home early yesterday.
OVER THERE: Amir (left) and Bob point to where Syaiful (inset) disappeared underwater.
The victim, identified as Syaiful Amru Jama’ari, 17, of Kampung Semariang Batu, was together with his schoolmates Mohd Amir Akari and Mohd Bob Su’ot when the incident occurred around 12.30am.
The three childhood friends were working as part-time waiters at a hotel while awaiting the outcome of their Sijil Pelajaran Menengah (SPM).
According to the victim’s mother Tatibah Hanapi, 52, the trio had finished work around midnight and were waiting with other workers for the hotel’s shuttle van to send them back to Petra Jaya.
However, Syaiful and Amir apparently could not wait for the van and decided to swim across the river from the Kuching Waterfront.
Halfway across the river, Amir was forced to go to Syaiful’s aid when he saw the latter struggling to continue, but had to abandon his friend and swim back to the Waterfront when he himself developed painful cramps.
Witnessing the incident unfold before him, Bob jumped into the river and swam to rescue Syaiful, who at that point was bobbing up-and-down several times in the water, but failed to reach him in time as he vanished underneath.
The two friends immediately rushed to Padungan police station and lodged a report of the incident, sparking a search-and-rescue operation involving police, the Fire and Rescue Department and Civil Defence Department.
Rescuers spent the next three hours scanning the waters in hopes of locating the missing teen, but later called off the operation due to darkness before resuming the search at daybreak.
A tearful Tatibah, meanwhile, said she had feared something bad was going to happen to Syaiful as far back as two weeks ago, when he had suddenly asked her for forgiveness for all his past mistakes and wrongdoings. She added that Syaiful was the 11th of 14 siblings, and that his father had passed away in 2005.
As at press time, the victim’s body had yet to be found.