‘We have lost all of our children now'

The Star

06-05-2025

Grappling with loss: Kuala Krai district police chief Supt Mazlan Mamat (right) accompanied by the victims' grandfather Hamzah (second from right) informing family members of the discovery of the two brothers who drowned in Sungai Gilat, Kampung Lubok Kawah. — Bernama
MACHANG: 'It's just me and my wife now. All five of our children have died.'
That was the mournful lament of Orang Asli Rantau Atan, 45, after identifying the bodies of his two sons, who were found drowned in Sungai Gilat, Kampung Lubok Kawah in Kuala Krai.
'I lost three daughters earlier to road accidents and illness. Now, Rahidi and Irruwan have also gone, leaving just me and my wife,' he said.
His wife, Noriah Hamzah, is 30.
Yesterday, Rantau first identified the body of his older son, Irruwan Rantau, 18, at the Machang hospital Forensic Medicine Unit, and then went to Hospital Tanah Merah with his father-in-law, Hamzah Yahya, 62, and several friends to identify the remains of his younger son, Rahidi Rantau, 16.
Rantau said he was shocked when he was told that they had drowned as 'they were both good swimmers'.
'They had probably never faced the strong current and the whirlpool of the river,' he told Bernama.
He also said the two brothers were close-knit and were diligent in helping their family. Both of them, he said, had helped him in an oil palm plantation in Rompin, Pahang since they were young and they had worked for over a year tending to a watermelon crop in Kuala Krai.
'They were good children and had been willing to work to support the family since young,' he added.
Rantau said he accepted the passing of his two children and was consoled by the fact that their bodies were found in a short period of time.
The remains of both children will be brought home and buried in their hometown in Kampung Deraman, Rompin, Pahang, after the post-mortem.
The two were believed to have gone fishing with relatives and friends in Sungai Gilat when they were swept away by the strong current.
It is understood that the family, along with more than 30 Orang Asli from Rompin, came to the village to work on a water­melon plantation and were scheduled to stay there for a week.