Girl found drowned in retention pond

Victim's friend, Muhammad Rusyaidi, is in critical condition in the Intensive Care Unit of the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital.

KUALA NERANG: A five-year-old girl was found drowned in a water retention pond in Kampung Sena here yesterday.

The body of Nur Damia Nadhirah Shahrudin was discovered by a 43-year-old family friend, Zuraini Hassan, about 3pm after she was notified of the missing girl and her friend, Muhammad Rusyaidi Mohamad Na’am, also five.

Zuraini said the two children, who addressed her as “Tok Wan”, were playing under the mangosteen trees on a small orchard near her house before their family members realised they were missing.

“They came to my house (with their families) about 2.30pm for a small party. Upon realising their disappearance, we looked for the children on the farm but they were not there.

“After searching for them for five minutes, we went to the pond area which is located about 50 metres from my house and found the body of Nur Damia Nadhirah floating.

“I jumped into the pond straight away to retrieve her body,” she told reporters at the scene here today.

Zuraini said she went back to the pond to look for the boy and found him at the bottom of the pond.

“We tried to revive them by performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and quickly took them to a nearby hospital. However, we were told that the girl had died,” she said, adding that the children often came to her house but had never been anywhere near the pond which was used to water the orchard.

Meanwhile, Kedah Health director Norhizan Ismail said the boy was still in critical condition and was in the Intensive Care Unit of the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital in Alor Setar.

Nur Damia Nadhirah was buried at the Muslim cemetery in Kampung Baru, Padang Lalang here about 11.40am. -FMT