KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 — A five-year-old boy has drowned, while his six-year-old sister and a 22-year-old man remain missing in Sandakan after they were swept out to sea in an early morning incident today.
The children’s 29-year-old mother survived and is currently receiving treatment at the Duchess of Kent Hospital in Sandakan.
According to Sandakan Fire Station chief Severinus Sainkui, the woman had taken her children into the sea at around 1am for reasons yet to be determined.
“They went into the water and the waves took them away,” he said in a statement.
Others in the vicinity, including the woman’s cousin, jumped in to rescue them.
However, only the woman was successfully pulled to safety, while the cousin and the two children disappeared beneath the waves.
Authorities were alerted at 1.13am, prompting a search and rescue operation involving the fire department, police, maritime officials, and health personnel.
The boy’s body was discovered at 7.08am, approximately 200m from where he was last seen. His remains have been sent for a post-mortem examination.
Search efforts for the missing girl and her cousin are ongoing.
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