AT THE SCENE: Samat (fourth left) and his men examine the body.
SARIKEI: A 47-year-old man was found drowned in a pond in Siew Kong Road, an access road along Kwong Ming/Minar Road about 10km from here yesterday morning.
Deputy district police chief, DSP Dominic Josip when contacted for confirmation, identified the deceased as a taxi driver named Wong Ling Chi,
THERE IT IS: CID men getting into the water to retrieve Wong’s body.
A team of policemen led by district CID chief, ASP Abdul Samat Amit rushed to the scene to investigate after being notified of the discovery around 8.10 am, Dominic said.
“On arrival at the scene, the policemen found the body of Wong lying face-down in knee-deep water in the pond,” he added.
They believed Wong had fallen into the water about an hour before his body was found, as two workers at a nearby bird nest farm house claimed to have noticed him walking to the pond after parking his taxi by the roadside around 7 am, Dominic said.
The two workers sensed something amiss when they did not see the cabby after some time although his cab was still parked there, prompting them to check on him.
When they reached the pond, they were shocked to see his body lying face-down in the pond and informed the police.
Apart from the body, the policemen found the car’s keys at the scene.
The cops ruled out foul play based on the initial investigation and a postmortem conducted by a doctor.
Dominic said they had classified the case as sudden death caused by drowning as there was no sign of a struggle at the scene or any injury on Wong’s body to indicate foul play.
Police are investigating from all angles, including why he went to the pond.