Malaysian student drowns in Japan

A Malaysian student, Muhammad Amirul Ashraf Abdullah, 21, was reportedly drowned while having a picnic with friends at Arakawa River in Saitama, Japan, this afternoon.

The final year student of Mechanical Engineering Informatics at Meiji University, Tokyo is sponsored by MARA Education Foundation (YPM).

YPM coordinating unit manager, Khairul Amri Masrakin said the incident occured when the victim was having a picnic with 10 friends near a river as they had completed their examination.

"The victim and his friends arrived at the picnic area at 4 pm. While eight of his friends were preparing ingredients to cook a barbeque, the victim and two friends went to cross the river.

"The victim suddenly drowned in the middle of the river. A friend had reached the other side while the other did not cross the river," he said when contacted, here today.

Khairul Amri said the victim tried to seek help but the other students could not do anything.

The public made an emergency call and firefighters arrived at the scene 40 minutes later to conduct a search and rescue operation.

"The victim was taken to Fukaya Red Cross Hospital. The medical team conducted cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). He was pronounced dead at 6.30 pm."

The Malaysian embassy and the victim's family were informed of the tragedy by the YPM representative in Japan. The remains were still in hospital as of 8pm.

The victim's family would leave for Japan tomorrow to bring the remains back to Malaysia.

- BERNAMA