Picnic turns tragic for five friends as one of them drowns

TAIPING - A picnic outing among five fiends turned tragic when one of them drowned near the Burmess Pool waterfall at Bukit Larut here on Sunday.

The body of S.Jeremy Anthony, 28, from Butterworth, Penang was found by the search and rescue team 17 hours after he was reported to have been swept away by the river current.

Taiping district police chief Assistant Commissioner Osman Mamat said investigations found that they went to the watefall area for an outing.

"All five of them were getting ready to return home as it started raining. The victim was seen crossing the river to take his backpack.

“When he was turning back, he slipped and at the same time there was a water surge. The victim was then swept by the strong current," he said on Monday.

He said the search and rescue operation began as soon as they received a distress call at around 5.30pm.

"The operation temporarily stopped at 8pm on Sunday and continued today (Monday). The operation involved the police as well as the Perak Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM).

"The victim was found one kilometre away from the location he was last seen. Physical inspections on the body found that there were injuries to the victim’s nose.

“However, there were no signs of foul play (in the death of the victim),” he said.

He added that the body was taken to the Taiping Hospital Forensics Unit for post-mortem.