Four children digging for mussels drown in Sungai Melaka

Four children were found drowned after they had ventured to look for mussels in Sungai Melaka at Taman Seri Krubong, Krubong here Sunday evening.

The victims, a sister and brother Hanis Balkis Fadzli, 7, and Mohamad Nazmi Fadzli, 9, and their friends Athafiz Amin, 10, and Rodziatul Nadia Rosnan, 12, were believed to have slipped and fallen into the river about 4 pm.

Melaka Fire and Rescue deputy superintendent Kamarulzaman Mohd Din said seven rescue personnel from the Ayer Keroh station and 11 divers from Kubu took slight more than an hour to recover their bodies.

"We received the distress call at 4.58 pm and managed to recover the four bodies at 6.04 pm," he told reporters here Sunday.

The children's remains will be laid to rest at the Kampung Cheng Muslim Cemetery here tonight.

Meanwhile, Athafiz' sister Athirah Amin, 16, said her brother and seven friends from the housing estate had gone looking for mussels at the river to be cooked for breaking fast.

"When my brother and three others slipped and fell into the river, the rest of the friends tried to help them but couldn't. They then got help. "I'm very sad about losing my brother especially with Hari Raya around the corner," she said.

Rodziatul Nadia's mother Norizan Zainal, 40, said she had gone to the shops at the time of the tragedy and only found out about it from her neighbour when she got home.

"My daughter never went to the river. The past few days she religiously followed me for tarawikh prayers and had mentioned that she didn't want to go to school tomorrow. She also asked me to buy her a robe," she said.

Hanis Balkis and Mohamad Nazmi's grandfather Ismail Hamid, 64, said it was a great sorrow that his grandchildren had passed away before him.