BAU: A father’s wait came to an end after his son’s body trapped in the cave hole of Mount Tabai here was successfully retrieved today.
Tapa Monya, 73, ate only a piece of candy and refused to eat throughout the third day of the search and rescue (SAR) operation as he waited for rescuers to extricate his son’s body from the pit.
It was his first time on the site since his son was believed to have been trapped in the hole since Tuesday after a big rock rolled down and pinned the body.
“I was unable to sleep at night since I heard the news about my son. After all, he is an obedient son and had always been very close to me,” he said when met at the scene today.
The body was successfully carried out from the cave hole around 6.20pm today by the SAR team comprising Bomba personnal and villagers assisted by the police and Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC).
During a chat with the press at noon, he was all smiles and kept talking about a lot of things.
However, whenever the topic of his son was brought up, there was no doubt a trace of sadness in his eyes as he tried his best to field questions from the reporters.
“My wife is at home, waiting for our son to return as well. We strongly believe that our son’s body could be extricated from the cave hole,” he said.
He described the victim, Martin Mat Tapa, 25, as a hardworking son and had always been very helpful to the family.
He said the seventh out of eight sibling often stays out of the house as he works part-time to provide for the family.
“Sometimes, he would follow me to the farm where I plant corn, ubi kayu (cassava) and other vegetables,” he added.
Meanwhile, the victim’s sister, Freshilla Tapa, 26, said that her brother was loved by the siblings.
“As the youngest son, Mamat (the victim’s nickname) was very dedicated and passionate in earning a living to help family members, especially our parents.
“We only hope for his body to return safely so that a proper funeral could be done.
“If we can bury him, we would be able to visit his grave. But if his body is left buried here, we can’t come visit,” she said.
She explained that her mother did not come to the scene due to health problems and refused to add to their mother’s grief over the incident.
Freshilla also revealed that Mamat had expressed his desire to get married to his fiancée in June this year.
