Firemen looking for the missing boy in Semporna.
KOTA KINABALU: A seven-year-old boy drowned while another went missing after their boat capsized off Sabah’s east coast Semporna district on Friday (July 14).
The boys were travelling with two male adults, believed to be their fathers, who were reported to be safe following the incident at the Menampilik waters near Pulau Nusa Tengah.
The men, aged 25 and 28, were found by marine police.
The victim has been identified as Nasirin Katibin, seven, while the missing boy, also aged seven, is Padli Ambit.
Details over how the incident took place are still sketchy.
It is believed to have taken place at 1pm.
According to the Fire and Rescue Department spokesman, the department was alerted of the capsized boat by the Semporna police headquarters at 2.41pm.
“A search operation, covering a radius of 3.2 nautical miles from where the boat was reported to have overturned, was launched in search of the passengers,” he said when contacted.
The operation, however, was called off at 4.50pm and will commence on Saturday (July 15) morning, the spokesman added.
In a separate incident, a 14-year-old boy drowned while taking a dip with his friends at a river in the neighbouring Lahad Datu district.
The boy, identified as Muhamad Zulaimie, had earlier gone to the river at Mile 5 Kampung Sepagaya.
A Fire and Rescue Department spokesman said they received a distress call over the incident at 3.12pm.
He said, however, the public found the boy’s remains before firemen reached the scene.
“Our responders gave the victim cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on location.
“However, medical officers from the Health Ministry confirmed the boy had died,” he added.
The spokesman said the body was taken to the district morgue in an ambulance, adding the operation ended at 4.52pm.
