Four fatalities in Terengganu floods

KUALA TERENGGANU: The first wave of floods that affected Terengganu since last month have claimed four lives.

State police chief Datuk Mohd Khairi Khairudin said the most recent death involved a 36-year-old man, Wan Muhamad Firdaus Wan Nasir, who was found drowned at an oil palm plantation in Felda Kerteh 3 in Ketengah Jaya, near Dungun.

The man was reported missing after his motorcycle was swept away by the strong current while he was braving through a heavily flooded road.

"The body was found at 2.15 pm yesterday by the fire and rescue department personnel and villagers," he said in a statement today.

He said the first casualty of the floods was 66-year-old man, Tuan Jusoh Tuan Hassan, who drowned while fishing in a padi field area in Jalan Kampung Pinang, Besut, on Nov 28.

Mohd Khairi also said that two siblings became victims of a landslide at their home in Kampung Bukit Apit, Ajil, near Hulu Terengganu, on Nov 29, at around 4.50 pm.

He said the bodies of Puteri Sajidah Azman, 16, and her younger sister, Siti Fatimah, 13, were found at 6.30 pm and 7 pm respectively.

"Investigations found that the landslide occurred from a hill behind their house, about 30 metres away, and heavy rain was falling at the time," he said.

-- BERNAMA