At only the tender age of 15, Mohd Nazim Idris drowned in Sungai Padas, and all his family could do was watch helplessly as he sank beneath the river current. The incident occurred on Sunday April 15th at Tenom, Sabah.
It was reported by The Star that the Form Three student was swimming in the river with his two siblings and cousin, when he began struggling. It seems that he had swam into a deeper section of the water.
Tenom Fire and Rescue Department chief Mohd Zainal Sinsian said his team of nine firefighters rushed to the scene after receiving a distress call at about 10.40am. The victim’s 18-year-old sister tried to rescue him, but to no avail. Apparently, the boy did not know how to swim.
Search and rescue operations had to end around 1.50pm after Mohd Nazim’s body was found floating in a section of the river that was 3 meters deep. Chief Mohd Zainal stated that the family of the victim lived on the banks of the river. This would explain why the victim and his family members had been swimming in the area.
After the team located Mohd Nazim’s, his body was sent to Hospital Tenom to conduct a post-mortem to ascertain his final cause of death.
How horrible it must have been for the family to experience this sudden loss. In case you see someone drowning, it is advisable to call emergency as your first action, and only swim towards the victim as a last resort, as a drowning person can also put you at risk. According to Swimmer’s Daily, an adult can struggle in water for about three minutes but a child can only last less than thirty seconds. Therefore, time is a huge factor in preventing the potential loss of life.
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