FOUND: Fire and Rescue and Civil Defence Department personnel carrying Herman’s body onto the bank of Sungai Maong Ulu.
KUCHING: The body of petrol station worker Herman Sihas @ Mohd Sulaiman Abdullah, who went missing after jumping into a swollen monsoon drain at Jalan Rock last Thursday to try to save drowning student Kho Ying Qi, 19, was found yesterday, some three kilometres from where he disappeared.
The body of the 28-year-old was spotted floating beneath a bridge at Lorong Sungai Maong Ulu 3 at 8.45am by Civil Defence Department personnel, and sent to the mortuary for a post mortem.
However, Kho, who was swept away during Thursday morning’s flash flood, remains missing.
District police chief ACP Mun Kock Keong told a press conference that Herman’s body was found approximately three kilometres from where the incident occurred.
“Following the discovery, his status has been changed from ‘missing person’ to ‘sudden death’, pending the outcome of the post mortem. Kho is still listed as a missing person.”
He added that the search operation, comprising personnel from the Marine police, Civil Defence Department and the Fire and Rescue Services Department, would continue until the missing student was found.
“We hope the good weather will continue so that the operation to find her is not hampered.”
Meanwhile, SUPP president Datuk Seri Peter Chin visited the Sarawak General Hospital mortuary to console Herman’s grieving family and to hand over a personal donation.
Herman, originally from Kampung Jangkar in Lundu, was buried yesterday afternoon at the Semariang Muslim Cemetery with the help of neighbours of Taman Semariang Aman, where he had been staying with his sister and her family.
Present were Minister of Welfare, Women and Family Development Datuk Fatimah Abdullah and Assistant Minister of Resource Planning Datuk Mohd Naroden Majais.
Fatimah, meanwhile, disclosed that the deceased converted to Islam in 2000 with the knowledge of his parents, adding that his father is a former soldier.
She thanked his neighbours on behalf of the state government for their assistance in handling the burial arrangements, and added that cash relief assistance had been given to Herman’s family.