Indigenous searchers find children after four days in jungle
Three Malaysian boys and their Singaporean cousin have been found alive in the jungle in Pahang by indigenous trackers after being lost for four days, police said today.
Three Malaysian boys and their Singaporean cousin have been found alive in the jungle in Pahang by indigenous trackers after being lost for four days, police said today.
"The boys were found at 11:40 this morning," district deputy police chief Kamaruddin Kutik told AFP . "They are alive and very healthy."
The children, aged between 9 and 16, were airlifted to a nearby clinic.
A team of more than 100 searchers, backed by helicopters and sniffer dogs, had swarmed over the Fraser's Hill area in Pahang after the children went missing on Monday.
Kamaruddin said that, although the famed "Senoi Praaq" unit of indigenous police had joined the search Wednesday, it was civilian "orang asli" indigenous trackers - whose jungle skills are legendary - who found the children.
Police were now investigating how the children managed to survive so well in the inhospitable region, he said.
Brothers Chew Ser Yee, 16, Chew Ser Han, 14, and Chew Ser Meng, 12, and their Singaporean cousin Jeremy Tio, 9, were holidaying in Fraser's Hill when they decided to walk on a well-known hiking trail Monday.
Equipped only with a map and some water, they were due to be picked up later by their uncle at a pre-arranged spot but never turned up.
Singapore's foreign affairs ministry in a statement thanked the Malaysian authorities and volunteers and said: "We are very happy that the four missing boys have been found. They are now with their families."
Search ongoing in Cameron Highlands
Meanwhile, a second search for a 57-year-old man and his nephew who were reported lost on Tuesday continued in another holiday resort in Pahang state.
A team of commandos, fire and rescue personnel, police and local volunteers were attempting to locate Rahman Osman and his 14-year-old nephew Mohamad Azid Tahrim, who were on a jungle trail in the Cameron Highlands.
Rahman was described as an experienced trekker.
It was the third time in recent months that people have gone missing in Pahang. In March, a British botanist got lost while trekking in Fraser's Hill but was found five days later.
