PUTRAJAYA: The body of Amirul Ashraff Md Azhar, a Malaysian student who died after he was believed to have fallen from his apartment in Sydney, Australia, is expected to be brought home next week.
Rural Development Minister Datuk Seri Rina Mohd Harun said Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) officials in Australia were working to ensure that the body of the final year student of the Mechatronics Engineering Degree at the University Of Technology, Sydney could be taken home immediately.
She said the matter was expected to be finalised after the post-mortem and investigation of the Mara-sponsored student's body by Australian authorities were completed.
"Our officers there are working on some things including documentation matters that need some time to resolve.
"But according to the officials, the body is expected to be brought back to Malaysia next week," she told reporters after celebrating 70 outstanding students under the Budi Mara programme from the Mara Junior Science College (MRSM), here, today.
Also present was Mara Director-General Datuk Azhar Abdul Manaf.
In the incident, Amirul Ashraff, 22, from Taiping, Perak, was said to have slipped from level 23 of his apartment complex located about five kilometers from the university.
Rina said Amirul Ashraff’s next of kin had also been informed of the matter and left it to Mara to manage the return of the eldest of three siblings.
Meanwhile, Rina said she was informed that Amirul Ashraff's appeal to resit the five failed subjects had been approved by Mara.
“Indeed, he had submitted an appeal which had been processed by Mara and we had approved for him to resume his studies," she said. — BERNAMA