Two boys drown in old well

Two of three boys playing in a puddle of rainwater in an oil palm smallholding near their village in Jerteh here drowned in an old well they were unaware was there, police said.

Besut Police chief Supt Khaled Che Lah said Mohd Nabil Nuriman Mohd Lazim, nine, and Muhammad Amirul Hakim Syahrul Azman, seven, died on the way to the Besut Hospital following the incident near Kampung Alur Belanga, Alor Keladi, at about 5 pm.

The third boy, Muhammad Izul Apiq Amirozi, eight, managed to save himself after falling into the well, located about 100 metres from Mohd Nabil's house, he told Bernama.

Muhammad Izul Apiq then ran to get help from his father who rushed to the well and pulled the two boys out, Khaled said.

Mohd Nabil was a pupil of an intervention special education programme at Sekolah Kebangsaan Alor Keladi, Jerteh, while Muhammad Amirul Hakim had studied at Sekolah Kebangsaan Kampung Nangka, Kuala Besut.

Khaled said it was found that the unfenced well contained water up to a depth of over four metres following heavy rain over the past few days.

The old well is still used by oil palm smallholders as a source of water during the dry season.

Mohd Nabil's father, Lazim Muhammad, 44, when met at the Besut Hospital, said his son, the fifth of nine siblings, had lunch with him at home before going out to play with his friends unknown to him.