| Faza Suraj |
AN OTHERWISE normal day of gathering ‘lamiding’ leaves in the bushes of Kg Panaga turned tragic for seven teenage boys as they lost their friend in a drowning incident yesterday.
Sharing their side of the story to the Weekend Bulletin, the shell-shocked boys said they went into the bushes nearby Jalan Keruak at around 2pm in the afternoon and ended up at one of the lakes in the vicinity of Kg Panaga at around 4pm.
While looking for the leaves at the lake, they found a boat and started playing with it, said Mohd Azim bin As Narodin, 14.
“The boat could only accommodate two to three people so we took turns and the rest started swimming,” he added.
The last Mohd Azim spoke to the victim Mohd Nor Wafi bin Alihan, 14, was when it was their turn to use the boat.
Area cordoned off by the police. – PHOTOS: FAZA SURAJ
Authorities going through one of the paths that leads to the scene
“The boat was already a few metres away from the shore and just when I wanted to go farther, he said he felt something was not right and he saw bubbles in the water. Then he jumped into the water even after I told him not to do it,” Mohd Azim said, adding that he continued to row the boat around the lake.
One of the boys who was swimming near the shore said Mohd Nor Wafi swam towards him and grabbed his hand, adding that he told the victim to grab one of the tree branches on the shore.
Before Mohd Nor Wafi could grab it, they lost their hand grip and the victim fell into the “oily” lake.
Mohd Norzaime bin Mohd Harun, 16, the victim’s classmate said the group panicked after realising that their friend disappeared in the water.
“I immediately jumped in to look for him and it wasn’t far from the shore when I felt something under my feet… it was my friend’s body at the bottom of the lake,” Norzaime said in tears.
“After bringing him back to the shore, I performed CPR on him but blood came out from his nostrils,” Norzaime said.
Afterwards, he left the scene with some of the boys to find the victim’s mother.
Another boy, Mohd Abdul Wardi bin Mas Roseazelan, claimed that he contacted the ambulance service at 4.50pm.
The boys are students of Sayyidina Ali Secondary School in the Belait District.
They said it was their fourth time to the place while victim’s was the first, and the last.
The post Outing turns tragic, teenage boy drowns in Panaga lake appeared first on Borneo Bulletin Online.