Man drowns in Pahang floods, son still missing

A staff member of the Jerantut district forestry department office drowned in the flood waters in Pahang last night while his son went missing while wading through the water at Kampung Gintong.

Jerantut police chief Supt Mazlan Hassan said the victim, Zulkarnain Hitam, 58, was found at 10.30pm. He was believed to have drowned after being washed away by a strong current while walking home with his three sons after moving their family car to higher ground.

One of his sons, Ukai Iskandar, 23, who is a student at Universiti Malaysia Pahang in Gambang, was also washed away and has yet to be found.

“All of them were believed to have walked home from Kampung Gintong to Taman Perdana, about two kilometres from where they left their car,” Mazlan told Bernama when contacted.

Mazlan said villagers managed to save Zulkarnain’s other sons, aged 13 and 15.

The search for Ukai, which began at 11pm yesterday, had to be temporarily stopped at 3am today due to bad weather.

Mazlan advised the public to be vigilant about the development of floods and to follow the instructions of the authorities throughout the flood season to avoid untoward incidents.