18-year-old drowns after rescuing 2 classmates from strong currents in M’sia

18-year-old drowns after rescuing 2 classmates swept away by strong current in M’sia river

An 18-year-old college student drowned after saving two of his female classmates from being swept away by strong currents at a river in Malaysia.

According to a report by China Press, the incident took place on Tuesday morning (26 Sept) in Sungai Lembing, Pahang.

Students were at popular picnic area

Free Malaysia Today said the group of six students from University College of Yayasan Pahang had been enjoying an outing at the Pasir Puteri picnic area when disaster struck.

The victim, identified as 18-year-old Amirul Fahmie Saiful, was with two male and three female classmates after hiking up Bukit Panorama.

At around 8.45am, one of the girls was swept away by the strong current of the river nearby. A second girl attempted to rescue her but was also carried away.

Amirul jumped into the water without hesitation and managed to pull both girls to safety with the help of other classmates.

However, in the process of saving them, Amirul himself was pulled under the water and disappeared.

A search and rescue operation was subsequently launched.

Body recovered hours later

Amirul’s body was found about four hours later, at 12.12pm, about 25m from where he was last seen, reported China Press.

Kuantan police chief Wan Zahari Wan Busu confirmed that there were no signs of foul play.

An initial investigation suggested that Amirul drowned while performing the rescue.

Amirul’s body was sent to Kuantan Central Hospital for a post-mortem, while one of his classmates was treated for an asthma attack at a nearby clinic.

Also read: 3 secondary school students go missing after boat carrying 20 people sinks in river in M’sia

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