The search and rescue team members bring the victim’s body out of the water basin.
MIRI: A day of leisure during the school holidays among a group of friends turned tragic when one of them drowned at a raw water storage basin at Miri-Bintulu Road here around 12.16pm yesterday.
According to the Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) Miri, 11-year-old Hairil Iskandar from Kampung Lambir, was found lifeless 10 to 15 feet from the location where he was last seen at 2.54pm.
“The operation commander said three witnesses who are friends of the victim reported that Hairil fell into the 25-feet deep raw water storage basin area,” said Bomba Miri chief Law Poh Kiong.
Thirteen personnel from Miri and Lopeng stations and a Water Rescue Unit (PPDA) team subsequently searched the area where they found the victim at 2.54pm.
It is learnt that earlier the group of friends, who are all from SK Lambir, were jogging around the area and the victim had stopped to wash his feet prior to the incident.
Authorities believed that he slipped and fell into the water basin and unable to climb out due to the slippery surface.
Bomba personnel when trying to bring up the body out of the water had to use ropes.
The victim’s body was later handed over to the police for further action.