Kedah Floods: "I Thought It Was A Doll Floating, But It Turned Out To Be My Granddaughter"
The 38-year-old spoke about the heartbreaking discovery last night, 19 September.
A 2-year-old girl drowned in Kedah after falling into a flooded drain, as her village in Lorong Seri, Jalan Langgar, was hit by flash floods caused by the overflowing Sungai Kedah yesterday, 19 September
The child's grandfather, Mohd Hamidan Hashim, 38, made the heartbreaking discovery last night when he initially mistook his granddaughter's body for a floating object in the floodwaters.
"At first, when I saw something floating, I thought it was a doll, but it turned out to be my granddaughter.
"I climbed into the drain and pulled her to the side, calling her name repeatedly, but there was no response. Her face was pale, and her lips had turned blue," Mohd Hamidan was quoted as saying by Harian Metro.
A villager, Yahmin Sairin, showing the drain where the body of the 2-year-old girl was found.
Image via Zuliaty Zulkiffli/New Straits Times
The toddler had been missing for several hours after falling into the drain, which had overflowed due to the heavy rains and high tide
The child's mother, Siti Nurfarhana Abdullah, 18, who lives just 30m from the drain, was unaware that her daughter, Nur Aisha Misya Afifah Abdul Fattah, had wandered off at the time of the incident.
She thought the child had gone to her grandmother's house nearby.
"I had a bad feeling, so I called my father before going out to search for her. Shortly after, villagers told me that my daughter had fallen into the flooded drain," Siti Nurfarhana was quoted as saying.
Hamidan said that he had an uneasy feeling when he received the phone call from his daughter.
"I rushed to the spot to look for her but couldn't find her because the water was very deep.
"Some villagers helped by diving to search for her, but to no avail. My granddaughter's body surfaced around 8pm last night," he told reporters at the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital Forensic Department.
"I have come to terms with her passing."
Yahmin Sairin, 70, a villager who assisted in the search, recounted using a stick to probe the deep drain but was unable to locate the child due to the strong current
"I swam in the drain but couldn't find anything," he said, adding that he built the drain 12 years ago and was aware of its depth but never expected the flood to be this severe.
Nur Aisha will be laid to rest at Masjid Al Irfan Islamic Cemetery in Derga later today.
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