SETIU: When Mohd Taqwa Ismail responded to an emergency call, he could never have imagined that it would his worst nightmare come true.
The 49-year-old was told to go to Km38 Jalan Kuala Terengganu-Kota Baru yesterday as there had been an accident in front of a palm oil factory.
He was to pick up the victim's body and send it to the Setiu Hospital.
When the ambulance driver from the Sungai Tong Health Clinic arrived at the scene, he had a sense of foreboding. It was then that he recognised the motorcycle which was involved in the accident.
It belonged to his own son, Muhammad Aiman, 21.
Aiman, who worked at the Taman Tamadan Islam (TTI) landscape unit, was involved in a crash with a lorry about 4.30pm.
"In the 21 years I have worked as an ambulance driver, that was the first time I had been faced with a situation involving a family member. Only Allah knows the sorrow I felt at the time," said Taqwa.
He said Aiman had only been working at TTI for five months.
"Usually, Aiman would bring food to work but yesterday he said he wanted to have dinner at home. Coincidentally, the day before I managed to fry some fish I brought back from a trip to Tasik Kenyir. He had eaten that and then asked to keep some so he could eat it yesterday," he said.
Taqwa described Aiman, his second child of five with wife Zulnilawati Idris, 47, as someone who was quiet but popular with everyone as he could easily adapt to any situation.
"My late son was buried at the Felda Belara Muslim cemetery at 11.30am today," he said.
Setiu police chief Deputy Superintendent Afandi Hussin said Aiman died at the scene of the crash from injuries to his head.
He said the victim was on his way home to his home in Sungai Tong from Kuala Nerus when the crash occurred.
"Aiman, who was riding a Honda EX5, was said to have tried to overtake another vehicle and crashed into the lorry which was coming from the opposite direction."
The driver of the lorry, said Afandi, was not injured in the incident.
He said police were investigating the case under Section 41(1) of the Road Transport Act for causing death by reckless or dangerous driving.