Missing Sarawak politeknik students found
Published on: Sunday, March 18, 2018
Tawau: Two Politeknik Sarawak students who were reported missing at Taman Bukit Tawau (TBT) since Friday were found safe on Saturday.TBT Manager Jufri Nasri said Muhd Khairul Siwwes, 21, was found by villagers at Mini Hydro Kg Gudang Empat at 11.30am, four kilometres from the Fire and Rescue control centre.He said as for Hafizam Abdawah, 21, he was found in the Mt Maria area by a search and rescue team at 3.19pm, about 12.2km away from the control centre.
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Found tired with injured feet and fever, they were sent to the hospital for treatment. The two were conducting research on healthy trees in TBT for a treehouse project, as part of their practical training."However, they did not inform their location or requested help from a guide compared to the previous four times they had went into TBT."Those conducting research in TBT should follow the set rules, especially when going into the forest.
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"They must always inform of their status or wellbeing to Taman-Taman Sabah (TTS) so we can prepare a guide to assist their ins and outs of the area," he said.Tawau Fire and Rescue Station Chief Sharudy Delamin said 12 firefighters were deployed to the location to assist in the search and rescue operation upon receiving a distress call at 7.15pm.
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He said they started the operation at 8.30am on Saturday with 12 firefighters, 11 police and 30 TTS rangers. According to Khairul, he and Hafizam took off at 9am on Friday after planning to go to a hot spring area in search of a suitable tree for their treehouse project.He said they had followed red and white rope indicators but some of them were cut off so they continued their journey up till a hilly area. At the time, Hafizam told him that his feet was cramped but he told him to continue walking as it was getting dark."I continued walking for about 100 metres to check out the road ahead but when I returned to look for him, he was missing. I searched for him for half an hour, repeatedly calling out his name but he did not respond."Under the impression that he had followed another path, I decided to continue my journey until night time, in which I found a river and slept on a rock there. "I woke up at about six in the morning the next day (Saturday) and walked for five hours before I came across a resident's house near Mini Hydro Kg Gudang Empat," he said.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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