REMBAU: A father did not expect to lose his son, who drowned in an incident at Sungai Pedai near Kampung Merbau 9 here, yesterday.
Rosli Mihat, 49, said ever since he suffered from a stroke two years ago, his son Muhammad Syafiq, 15, had helped him a lot, including doing housework and giving him a massage whenever he was feeling unwell.
The former lorry driver said his son was eager to start the new school term at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Pedas.
"I bought him a pair of new uniform to wear today. Yesterday, at 4.30 pm I was looking for a shop to buy another pair of school uniform.
"I didn’t expect that Abang (Syafiq) would leave me this way. He was my firstborn, a good son,” he said when met at Tuanku Jaafar Hospital (TJH) in Seremban today.
Syafiq and his two friends, Muhamad Alis M Sadri, 15, and Muhammad Iqqmal Haziq Muhammad Nozili, 12, drowned in Sungai Pedas during an outing while their 15-year-old friend, Haikal Najmi Azhar, 15, survived the incident.
The four friends went to the river about 4pm for a swim and to fish. Haikal Najmi climbed up to the river’s cliff as soon as he was done fishing, when he saw three of his friends swept away by the strong currents.
Iqqmal was said to have been struggling in the water, which prompted Alis and Syafiq to swim over to help.
Their attempt failed and all three ended up being swept away.
Meanwhile, M Sadri Yaakob, 46, the father of Alis, said the last time he saw his son was about 11am yesterday, before his son went out to meet his friends.
He said his son, the fourth of six siblings, was a tahfiz student in Kuala Sawah last year, before continuing his studies at SMK Pedas.
"I learned about the incident from neighbours who informed us at 7pm. My wife fainted as soon as she heard the news,” he said.
Translated from Berita Harian