SEREMBAN: A male teenager and an elderly man drowned while out fishing in Sungai Simen, Jalan Rantau Ladang Kombok here, on Sunday (Aug 20).
Rantau Fire and Rescue Station chief Senior Fire Officer 1 Mohd Syazwan Saidy said the victims were identified as A. Vijay, 16, from Ladang Kombok and his acquaintance G. Chantiran, 60, whose address is at Taman Bukit Merbok Ria, Rasah.
He said the station received a distress call at 8.07pm before 10 firemen along with 10 members of the Water Rescue Team were rushed to the location.
"The body of the teenager was found by his brother, who is in his 20s, at 7.15pm, He was looking for his brother in the river area after he had not returned home.
"His brother found that only the personal items of the two victims were near the river. He tried to call his brother and heard the phone ringing on the bank of the river before suddenly seeing a net on the surface of the water," he said in a statement Monday (Aug 21).
Mohd Syazwan said the victim's brother then pulled the net and found that Vijay was tangled in it and then pulled him up before finding that his brother was lifeless.
The body of the elderly man was found by the Water Rescue Team at the bottom of the river at about 11pm, about 10m from the bank, he said.
He said Chantiran's son C. Sivam, 36, had also searched for his father at the location but did not find him.
He added that both bodies were handed over to the police and sent to the Tuanku Jaafar Hospital, Seremban for post-mortem. - Bernama
