20-Year-Old Volunteer Collapses From Exhaustion And Drowns While Rescuing Flood Victims
It is said that the young man was tired after a long day of helping villagers and even experienced cramps due to the cold weather.
A 20-year-old in Kelantan fell off a boat and drowned while transporting flood victims to a temporary evacuation centre
New Straits Times reported that Mohammad Hakimin Rahim suddenly collapsed and fell into the water around 10pm last night, 6 January.
His family found his body around 8am this morning in close proximity to where he fell off the boat.
Image via Berita Harian
Five firemen were rushed to the scene upon receiving a distress call at 10.07pm.
Due to the darkness, as well as rain and water rising at some low-lying areas, they had to call off the rescue operation.
Kuala Krai fire station head Muhammad Rizwan Ar-Rafee Parsimin told Harian Metro that they initially planned to continue the search and rescue (SAR) operation in the morning.
However, his team was informed that the family had already found the deceased.
The body was then handed over to the police and it was transferred to the Sultan Ismail Petra Hospital for further action.
It is said that Hakimin was tired after a long day of helping villagers and even experienced cramps due to the cold weather
The Info Banjir Negeri Kelantan Facebook page noted that the young man was a very helpful volunteer and dubbed him an unsung hero.
A post dedicated to him read, "He has been helping people move important belongings to a safe place since last night. Around 2 or 3am, he woke all the villagers up so they could move their vehicles. Even today, he was present from morning to night, helping people transport their items because water levels were rising."
"But he suddenly fell off the boat," they added.
"He sat at the far back, people in front were unable to help him. They said that he was too cold and had cramps from being in the water since morning."
Massive floods that struck Kelantan and Pahang have claimed several lives:
Meanwhile, a former flood victim took to Twitter to reveal the challenges people have to face during the natural disaster:
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