Teenager Who Witnessed His Two Best Friends Drown Remains Traumatised

PARIT, Feb 18 (Bernama) -- A teenager remains traumatised after watching two of his best friends drown right in front of his eyes in an incident where two teenagers are feared to have drowned in Sungai Perak near Kampung Tepus, here, yesterday while trying to retrieve a ball that fell into the river.

Mohd Irfan Solihin Mohd Rizal, 14, said although the incident happened so quickly, he saw Muhammad Naufal Aiman Dzulkarnain, 16, and Muhammad Nazrin Haidar Mohd Hisham, 16, screaming for help before drowning at around 4pm yesterday.

"I can still recall the reaction of Aiman who screamed for help, as well as Nazrin who tried to help Aiman at that time but was unsuccessful. Since yesterday until today, I couldn't sleep well. The image keeps coming back over and over again in my mind," he said when met at the scene today.

Mohd Irfan said the three of them along with two other friends were playing football in the river's sandbar area after returning from school. However, while playing, the ball was accidentally kicked to a distance and it fell into the river and Muhammad Naufal volunteered to retrieve it.

"We told him not to (go to the river and retrieve the ball) but he insisted on going. After seeing Muhammad Naufal fall into the river, Muhammad Nazrin went down into the river and tried to reach out to him with a bamboo stick but he couldn't reach him.

"I ran to seek help from the villagers in an effort to save my two friends," he said.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Nazrin's mother, Norhidayah Mohd Shabidin, 42, who has six children said she accepts the fate of her son but hoped that the body of her third child can be found as soon as possible so that she can at least see his face for the last time. 

Norhidayah said she was only informed of the incident by her son's friend who was also at the scene.

"Upon hearing about the news (of drowning), I immediately rushed to the scene to find out about my son's condition. I was surprised because he never told me that the area was their playing area," she said.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Naufal Aiman's mother, Norhayati Ramlly, 46, said the loss of her third child (third out of five siblings), would be sorely felt as her son who was a diligent boy helped her in her business at the morning market in Parit town.

According to Norhayati, she was aware that her son often played in the area with Muhammad Nazrin and other friends.

"Just that yesterday, he left without telling me where he wanted to go. I also didn't have time to say hello to him and finally I received this sad news," she said.

--BERNAMA