NO STENCH, FARMHANDS NEVER GUESSED SOMEBODY DIED IN DURIAN ORCHARD

BATU PAHAT, June 25 (Bernama) -- The caretaker and hired farmhands of the durian orchard that became an unlikely resting place for a skeleton belonging to a missing biker, never suspected somebody died there as there was no stench -- other than the pervading presence of the king of fruit.

The caretaker known as Wong, 72, said he commutes every day to the orchard next to the Komplex Penghulu Mukim Linau, as he has been shuttling for the past one month, to clean the site and pick matured durian fruit fallen on its own (unripe durian hardly emanates a smell).

Wong said in his 30-odd years of gardening at the orchard of six acres, it was the first strange episode of a human skeleton cropping up at the location, barring animal bones which he occasionally stumble upon.

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"Actually, four days ago (Saturday) I did find a bone in the orchard during cleaning work, but I didn't think it belonged to a human and guessed it was from an animal since there was no unpleasant smell.

"However, yesterday was when I saw police out in force at the orchard claiming a human skeleton was found before being asked to make a police report," he said at the durian orchard in Jalan Yong Peng here today.

Meanwhile, Mohd Rizza Masri, 38, construction supervisor of the Komplex Penghulu Mukim Linau also attested that no foul smell ever pinched his nose, wafting from the orchard, even though he was working in the vicinity about 50 metres away for the past two months.

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"The other workers and I laboured on as usual until (yesterday, when) many people came with the police, then we heard the commotion about a skeleton and a motorcycle that was said to belong to the teenager reported missing last month," he said.

Yesterday, police said the puzzle of the human skeleton in the durian orchard was traced to Hafiz Fauzan Abdul Halid, a fifth former SM Agama Parit Raja (SMAPR) who was reported missing on May 26, a month ago.

A motorcycle almost identical to the one ridden by Hafiz Fauzan was also found in the orchard based on the registration plate number that his family shared on social media after his disappearance.

With police postulation that the teenager crashed into the orchard with his bike and fell wedged among the trees, to die a silent death hidden from view until the discovery.

The identity of the skeleton will soon be confirmed with the conclusion of a DNA test but until the bones of the missing teenager are finally laid to rest, perhaps the answer to why no one smelt out the dead body may lie with the pervasive smell of the durian orchard in this unpleasant episode which stirred Mukim Linau from slumber.

-- BERNAMA