‘Please find my daughter’

A two-year-old is still missing four days after being swept away in a swift current.

SENAWANG: It has been four days since a swift river current swept away two-year-old Nursyaza Sakinah, and rescue teams are still searching for her.

“Please find my daughter,” her sobbing mother called out repeatedly today as rescue workers, helped by kampung folk and a K-9 police unit, carried on their grim task.

Wan Azlela Wan Abdullah, 32, is still hoping that the infant has not shared the fate of her sisters, Nursyaza Alisa, 5, Nursyaza Azera ,4, whose bodies were found on Wednesday.

The three were carried away by the river at the Ulu Bendul recreational park near Kuala Pilah on Tuesday afternoon during a picnic with their father and a friend of his.

Alisa was found at 3.15am, 500 metres from the picnic spot, and Azera was found at 10.20am, 2.5 kilometres away.

The search operation extends to five kilometres from the tragedy spot. Rescuers say it is possible that Sakinah’s body is hidden deep in river sand and they are using an excavator in their operation.

Wan Azlela and her husband, Said Ahmad Ibrahim, 28, have been living separately for a year. The girls lived with their paternal grandmother here.

Wan Azlela told FMT she took her daughters to her parents’ home in Malacca last Friday and brought them back to Senawang on Sunday evening.

“Nursyaza Sakinah wouldn’t let me go as I was leaving. She cried and followed me to the main gate of the house. I told her I had to work and promised to visit again on Monday.

“All three kept telling me they loved me and how much they missed me.”

However, she could not come to Senawang on Monday because of work commitments and planned to make the trip on Tuesday instead.

“I promised to buy a bicycle for Alisa and wanted to meet them on Tuesday,” she said as she wept.

“All of my hopes and dreams for my lovely kids were dashed instantly when I was told about the incident. I have lost all my kids.”

She said she was not aware that her husband was taking the girls for the picnic.

Rescue teams needed

Meanwhile, Negeri Sembilan PAS commissioner Zulkefly Mohamed Omar has urged the government to station a rescue team at every tourist and recreational spot that has a waterfall.

“The Local and Housing Ministry must enforce a law to get rescue teams or life guards stationed at these recreational parks, like they do for famous public beaches,” he said.

“There is a drowning incident almost every month at one of these waterfalls. Something can be done to prevent or minimize the risk.”

Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar Mohamad Hasan has ordered the installation of an alarm system at the top of the Ulu Bendul waterfall to detect sudden surges in current speed.

Tuesday’s tragedy came after sudden heavy rain.