24-year-old Malaysian student found dead in Hyde Park lake

PETALING JAYA: A 24-year-old Malaysian student was found dead at the Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park, London.

According to the UK’s Evening Standard, police are investigating after the student’s body was pulled from the lake at about 5.51am on Monday (March 25).

Officers were called to the lake following reports of a person in the water. Police and paramedics rushed to the scene where the man was pronounced dead.

The online portal quoted a police spokesman saying that police were alerted at about 5.45am to reports of a body in the Serpentine at Hyde Park.

“The body of a man was recovered from the water. At this stage, the death is being treated as unexplained,” the police spokesman said.

Police say an investigation into the man’s death is ongoing.

London Ambulance Service said the first paramedic arrived at the scene in less than seven minutes.

A spokesman said, “We sent an ambulance crew, two medics in fast response cars, an advanced paramedic and an incident response officer to the scene.

“Sadly, the patient died at the scene.”

The youth has been identified as Muhammad Hafiz based on a student card found on his person and was the son of Malay Mail associate editor Zainal Epi.

The Malay Mail quoted Zainal as saying he received a call from the Malaysian High Commission in London at 2.30am Tuesday (March 26).

“I will be heading there tomorrow with my family. I’m not sure what really happened. I was just informed that they identified him based on the student identification card,” he said.

Zainal added that he last visited Muhammad Hafiz in London last September and his son has been studying chemistry there since 2015.- Star