TUMPAT: A weekly fishing trip turned ugly for four boys after their two friends aged nine and 11 went missing while collecting shellfish at the Sungai Tapang near Seri Tujuh lagoon yesterday.
In the 1pm incident, Mohd Khairul Nizam Zulkifli, 11, and Mohd Faiz Haikal Mohd Firdaus, 9, were believed to have drowned when they were caught off guard by the sudden high tide.
According to the two boys who managed to stay away from the tide, Mohd Fairus Ikhwan, 10, and Mohd Aiman Masoho, 10, claimed to have seen the victims struggling in the water before disappearing from sight.
Speaking to the New Straits Times at the scene, Mohd Aiman said they arrived at the river about 1pm and crossed it about 400 metres to the place they usually collect clams and shellfish.
"At the time, the tide was not high, but after about half an hour, we realised that the tide was coming in. So we decided to turn back to the shore before the water rose even higher. When I reached the shore I turned back to check on the other three and I saw them struggling.
"Luckily, one villager who was fishing nearby managed to save Fairus who was drowning. Khairul and Faiz could not be found after that," Aiman said.
He added that he and his friends would normally come to the lagoon to collect shellfish on weekends without their parents’ knowledge.
Fairus was rushed to the district hospital after he was saved by the villager.
In a separate incident in Kota Baru on Thursday, two women were stuck in an elevator for almost an hour, after the machine abruptly stopped between the second and third floor of a seven storey office building at Jalan Kebun Sultan here.
In the 2.30pm incident, one of the women suffered severe breathing problem due to the poor ventilation in the lift.
Fire and Rescue personnel from the district station rushed to the scene following a distress call at 2.26pm before safely removing the two victims, aged 26 and 28, an hour later.
Station operations officer Mohd Rozi Jusoh said the woman who had breathing problems was given first aid and both women were taken to the Raja Perempuan Zainab II Hospital for observation and were reported to be stable.