12-year-old boy in M’sia drowns after attempting to save brother & friends in pond

Boy dies after trying to rescue brother & friends in pond

A 12-year-old boy drowned in a mining pond in Kampung Meranti, Malaysia on Wednesday (26 Feb).

He was attempting to save his brother and friends during a swimming trip, reports Malaysian news outlet the New Straits Times (NST).

At around 4.30pm, Ridzuwan Abdullah noticed his younger brother, 11-year-old Akmal Ikwan, and two friends in distress in the water and quickly dived in to rescue them.

After successfully taking them to safety, he struggled in the pond himself and drowned.

Source: NST

His 39-year-old father, Azmi Khalid, admitted his son was not a good swimmer and it was his first time swimming in the pond.

“The children initially planned to go fishing in a drain at the palm oil plantation near the village but later changed their minds and decided to swim in a pond about two kilometres from the house,” he said.

The pond was reportedly 5-m deep.

His body was stiff from the cold

According to Mr Azmi, Ridzuwan rescued the boys by pulling them to the pond’s edge, but since he was unable to swim, he was believed to have gone under.

“Two of his friends, panicked, rushed to my house to seek help in rescuing Ridzuwan,” he said.

However, Mr Azmi was working at the time and only found out about the incident an hour later through the villagers.

Following his drowning, some Indonesian farm workers retrieved Ridzuwan’s body from the bottom of the pond.

Despite being rushed to the Nenasi Health Clinic, Ridzuwan could not be revived as he had swallowed a large amount of water, and his body had stiffened from the cold, Mr Azmi said.

The last time he saw Ridzuwan was the morning before the incident when he had sent his eldest child to Sekolah Kebangsaan Tanjung Batu in Nenasi.

He noted that Ridzuwan did not show unusual behaviour, though the boy had shared about a dream involving a feast at their house.

“I never expected such a tragic event to happen to our family, especially with Ramadan approaching, said Mr Azmi.

“I would like to thank everyone who assisted in managing the funeral arrangements and for ensuring that Ridzuwan was buried at the Islamic Cemetery in Kampung Nenasi yesterday morning.”

Also read: Good Samaritan drowns after rescuing drivers whose vehicles crashed into canal in Thailand

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Featured images adapted from NST and Pexels, for illustrative purposes only.