SCHOOL HOLIDAY TURNS INTO TRAGEDY AS 12-YEAR-OLD KILLED BY CROCODILE WHILE FISHING
By Rozlin Rusharmeen Rosmin
KUCHING, Sept 18 (Bernama) – "Mak, do you still love me?" These were the final words of 12-year-old Arif Fahmi Aiman Mohammad Tinggal to his mother before he was believed to have been attacked and killed by a crocodile while fishing in Sungai Empila, Kota Samarahan, this morning.
The victim's father, Mohammad Tinggal Ali, 52, said he never expected his second child's surprising question yesterday would be a sign of his impending death.
"My wife told me Aiman suddenly asked her that question... we were both puzzled why he said that. He was closer to his mother than to me," the father said when met by Bernama at the Sarawak General Hospital (HUS) today.
"If his mother asked him to go buy rice or anything else, he would follow... but when we forbade him from going to the river to fish, there was no stopping him because it was his hobby," he added.
Mohammad Tinggal said Arif Fahmi Aiman, or Aiman as he was affectionately known, had left the house as early as 6 am today to do his favourite activity before his fishing friends, who were with him, realised he was missing.
The father, who works as a security guard at SK Empila, where his son attended school, only found out about the incident after receiving a call from his eldest child while he was at his farm.
"I immediately rushed back and sought help from a friend who had a boat. I tried my best by shouting the adhan to look for my son," he said.
"Not long after, the fire and rescue team arrived and used a grappling hook for the search. The second time they pulled, the hook got caught on his shirt... and when they pulled him up, I saw my son's body myself, and there were crocodile bite marks on his chest," said the father of three.
Unlike most children his age, Aiman preferred spending his time at the river fishing and netting, an activity that had become a part of his life for the past two years. He even owned seven fishing nets for various types of river catches.
Mohammad Tinggal said his son's friendly nature made the sixth-grader well-liked and able to get along with anyone, even befriending adult anglers in their 20s and 30s.
"If he got prawns, he would sell them. Once he earned up to RM70, and even yesterday, he made RM28 from his netting. It was his hobby, and he was happy because he could earn his own pocket money," he said, accepting his son's passing.
"As soon as school was out, he would go down to the river because he found peace there. Aiman was a rugged boy, he loved boat racing and fishing," he said.
In the tragedy at Kampung Empila, about 30 kilometers from the city center, the Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department's Operations Center (PGO JBPM) stated that the boy's body was found at 9:50 am today, about 10 metres from the last location he was seen.
PGO JBPM received the emergency call at 7:53 AM, and according to witnesses, before the incident, the victim was believed to be on a boat setting his net.
--BERNAMA
