LANGKAWI: It was a heartbreaking scene as the body of 5-year-old Aisyah Kassim, who was swept away by strong currents at a waterfall here yesterday, was fished out from a river near Kampung Kemboja.
Her remains were found at a rubbish trap near a surau at the village, some seven kilometres away from the waterfall.
The body was spotted by a villager at about 4.30pm, about 24 hours after the tragedy.
Aisyah was one of the six children who were swept away by a column of water while taking a dip at Kampung Buku Waterfall in Lubuk Semilang on Thursday.
The body of the first victim, Qistina Puteri Wira, 11, was found an hour after the 4.30pm incident.
The remains of two other victims Nor Aiman Wahidah Mohd Rosli, 11, and Anis Shahtirah Saad, 12, were found in two separate locations about 12.40am and 11.46am today.
Two other children were also swept away by the currents, but they were rescued by other picnickers.
The discovery of Aisyah's body shattered her family's pray for a miracle that she would be found alive.
Earlier today, the child's father Kassim Abdullah, 45, was reduced to tears when a villager found a pair of tracksuit belonging to his eldest child of three.
He was heard calling out his daughter's name as he held the tracksuit.
It was a sorrowful scene, as onlookers and rescuers could only watch as the father called out to his child in a weak, shattered voice.
The tracksuit was found stuck on a tree root by members of the public at 11.15am today, some 500 metres from the location where Aisyah was swept away by currents.
Kassim confirmed that the tracksuit belonged to his daughter and said that she had worn it yesterday morning.
"I sensed something was different about her yesterday as she kissed my cheek and laid down on my lap, as if she was going somewhere very far.
"I will wait here. Whatever the outcome of the search operation is, I will accept it as His will," said Kassim, from Kampung Bukit Malut.
Farmila Osman, 36, the mother of Qistina Puteri, said the victim was the eldest child of three, and was her only daughter.
"My children had pestered me to take them to the waterfall to join their friends and neighbours for a picnic.
"We have been coming here quite a number of times and it was the first time ever the column of water incident struck and I have lost my daughter," she said in teary eyes.
Translated from Harian Metro