Elderly Man Disappears in River, Tragically Devoured by Crocodile – Remains Found After Three-Day Search

(Lawas, Sept 11) – An 80-year-old Malay man from Kampung Siang-Siang Laut, Lawas, went missing while bathing by the river. After three consecutive days of search and rescue by the Fire and Rescue Department and multiple agencies, at around 10:30pm last night, the victim's family found part of his remains—his head—about 500 meters upstream, confirming he was devoured by a crocodile.

 

According to a report from the Lawas Fire and Rescue Department, the missing person was Dua Bin Ramad, 80 years old. On the evening of the 9th (Tuesday) at around 5:30pm, he was last seen bathing by the river near his home.

 

At around 6pm, his sister noticed he had not returned and went looking for him. She only found his towel and slippers left on the bridge, prompting her to contact villagers to start a search.

 

Villagers used small boats to search up and down the river but found no trace. The Fire and Rescue Department received the report that night and rushed to the scene, but due to darkness could only collect information and decided to launch a large-scale search the following day.

 

At dawn on the 10th, the Fire and Rescue Department, together with the police, Civil Defense Force, Forestry Department, and local government personnel, more than 20 people in total, deployed rescue boats to repeatedly search several kilometers of upstream and downstream from the incident location, but still found nothing. The search efforts were temporarily limited by receding river tides.

 

It was not until last night (the 10th), at around 10:30pm, that the victim's family discovered partial remains (the head) about 500 meters upstream, confirming the unfortunate death. Police subsequently brought the remains in for processing and suspect the rest of the body remains in the river.

 

From 7am today, search and rescue teams continued to expand the search area upstream, focusing on recovering the rest of the victim's remains.