Skeletal remains of child found by river near Pos Tohoi

Gua Musang district police chief Supt Saiful Bahri Abdullah said the remains, namely a skull and some ribs, were found at 3.50pm.

He said the remains were found about 800 metres from where the body of Sasa Sobrie, eight, - one of the seven students of SK Tohoi who went missing since August, was discovered yesterday afternoon.

"We do not yet know the gender (of whom) the remains belong to, if it's of a male or female, because we have only found some of the bones," he told reporters when met at the Gua Musang Hospital (GMH) here, this evening.

He said the skeletal remains were found by a team of 10 General Operations Force (GOF) members from Senoi Praaq assigned to search and rescue (SAR) the seven students.

"The team found the remains on the edge of the river bank and we believe it is linked to the loss of the seven children," he said.

Kelantan State Education director Ab Aziz Abdullah was also present.

The skeletal remains arrived at the hospital's morgue at around 8.50pm tonight and was submitted to the pathologist for DNA testing and identification of gender.

Saiful Bahri said the pathologist also took blood samples from family members of the seven pupils in the afternoon for the DNA testing to be carried out.

Commenting further on the operation, he said the SAR team was having difficulty running the search in the river because the water was shallow and there were many stones.

Meanwhile, Ab Aziz said the education department would be adding four new kayaks to help ease the operation.

"Kayaks are easy to maneuver in shallow waters and it will help the team perform SAR operations. We will request the assets from the Selangor and Perak State Education Departments," he said.

He said the department would also be sending 10 counsellors to help ease the emotions of parents of these children, as well as provide counselling to the students of the school this Saturday.

On Aug 23, seven Orang Asli students - six girls and a boy, aged between 7 and 11 from SK Pos Tohoi fled from the school's hostel for fear of reprisal by their teachers, after they were detected bathing in the river without permission.