OVER THERE: Uzaed points to the area of the swamp where Idris went
DISTRAUGHT: Semariang assemblywoman Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali (right) consoling Idris’
Mohd Idris RoniKUCHING: A Form 1 boy is missing and feared drowned after he disappeared while trying to retrieve his crab trap in a swamp near Sungai Midin near here during high tide on Wednesday.
Mohd Idris Roni, 13, was with his 15-year-old friend Mohd Uzaed Safari in chest-high water in the swamp, about 200 metres away from his house at Kampung Semerah Padi, when the incident happened around 6.30pm.
Prior to the incident, Idris had arrived home from school and quickly changed out of his uniform, telling his mother he was going to meet up with Mohd Uzaed despite her asking him to have his dinner first.
According to Mohd Uzaed, Idris dived underwater to retrieve his trap, from where the duo had placed them at noon prior to going to school, but did not resurface.
“I briefly saw both his legs stick out from under the water after he dived in. His legs were flailing but they soon disappeared,” said Mohd Uzaed when met yesterday.
Idris’ father, Roni Sahri, said he was notified of the incident at 6.45pm and quickly began searching for his son – the youngest of six children – together with fellow villagers.
He said Idris, who knew how to swim, loved to catch crabs and would always check his traps as soon as he returned from school.
The Fire and Rescue Service Department launched a search-and-rescue operation after receiving a distress call at 7.20pm, focusing on Sungai Midin and its tributaries, Sungai Semariang Batu and Sungai Semariang Kanan, with assistance from Civil Defence Department and Rela personnel as well as local villagers.
Meanwhile, Semariang assemblywoman Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali paid a visit to the missing boy’s family after learning of the incident and consoled Idris’ mother, who was distraught over what had happened.
Borneopost 10/2/2012
Search for missing boy halted after human head
KUCHING: The search operation for Form 1 student Mohd Idris Roni, who disappeared on Wednesday while trying to retrieve his crab trap, appears to have come to an end after a decomposed human head was found yesterday.
The discovery was made around 5pm by villagers along Sungai Jambu, a tributary of Sungai Midin, roughly three kilometres from the swamp where the 13-year-old went missing.
However, district police chief ACP Roslan Bek Ahmad said the victim’s father, Roni Sahri, was unable to positively identify the head as that of Mohd Idris, adding that a DNA test would be carried out to confirm the identity.
Roni, accompanied by his sons and relatives, arrived at the Sarawak General Hospital mortuary following the discovery and spoke to deputy district police chief Supt Abang Ahmad Abang Julai, but left after failing to confirm the head was that of his son.
Meanwhile, Petra Jaya fire station chief Terry Robson said the Fire and Rescue Services Department received word of the discovery at 5.20pm.
“A human head, believed to belong to the victim, was spotted floating in the river and recovered by villagers. It has been sent to the Sarawak General Hospital for a post mortem,” he said, adding the search operation will be put on hold for the time being, but will resume in the event the recovered head was found to be that of someone else.
Relatives and villagers, who gathered in front of the missing student’s house at Kampung Semerah Padi after hearing of the discovery, speculated that the torso and limbs could have been devoured by crocodiles.
A relative, who asked not to be named, ruled out the possibility that Mohd Idris had been attacked by a crocodile on that fateful day, saying it was more likely that he drowned while trying to retrieve his trap and that his body was then devoured by the reptiles, which are known to inhabit Sungai Midin and its tributaries.
Family members, particularly the victim’s mother Rabinah Junaidi, were too distraught to speak to the press and requested for their privacy to be respected.
Mohd Idris, whose hobby was catching crabs, vanished underwater on Wednesday while diving to retrieve a crab trap during high tide at a swamp along Sungai Midin, roughly 200 metres from his house.
He had only just returned from school around 6pm before changing out of his uniform and dashing out of the house to inspect his trap which he and his friend Mohd Uzaed had placed prior to going to school.
His 15-year-old friend, who accompanied him to the swamp, told reporters then that they were standing in chest-high water when the victim dived underwater to fetch his trap.
He recalled that the last he saw of his close friend was both of Mohd Idris’ flailing legs emerge briefly before disappearing back underwater.
Borneopost 12/02/2012
