MARUDI: The body of a teenage boy, who went missing last Saturday after a boat capsized in Long Mewah, has been found.
Franky Setiawan Jena, 14, was one of five people on board the boat when it capsized around 9.30pm after hitting a rock while on its way back to SK Long Aton that day.
Three of them managed to swim to safety but Franky and Eduin Jala, 47, were swept away by strong currents.
Earlier that day, around 2.30pm, the men boarded the boat from SK Long Aton to a fishing spot located at a spot about 20 minutes from the school.
They had done some repair works at SK Long Aton before going on their fishing trip.
Firefighters found Franky’s body today (Aug 17) around 4.30pm by the river about 15 minutes downstream from where the boat capsized on day two of the search and rescue (SAR) operations.
The body was later handed over to the police for further actions.
As at press time, Eduin is still missing.
According to Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) operations centre (PGO) in a statement, the SAR started as early as 6.30am on Monday (Aug 17) encompassing a 4km radius upstream from Kampung Long Aton to the location of the incident via water surface search method.
The search was also done downstream to Kampung Long Sobeng with a travel time of one hour.
Land search was also carried out along the riverbank. An air search was also conducted in the afternoon.
It takes about 10 hours to reach Long Aton from Miri by land and 12 hours by riverine transport, depending on water conditions.
