Mum looks on helplessly as her daughter drowns

[Sun Quan]

Sunday January 9, 2011

Mum looks on helplessly as her daughter drowns

KOTA BARU: A 10-year-old girl became the first casualty of the third wave of floods to hit Kelantan after she drowned in a water channel near her house at Kampung Belukar, Limbat here.

Siti Aisyah Kamarulzaman was swept away while playing with her siblings in the 11am incident yesterday as her mother Gayah Hassan looked on helplessly.

“She was only three metres from me but I could not do anything to save her,” said Gayah at the Raja Perempuan Zainab II Hospital here.

Fire and Rescue Department senior officer Hasmadi Jusoh said Siti Aisyah’s body was found stuck under the water channel at 1.30pm just 2m from the place she fell.

Meanwhile, the situation in Kelantan continued to deteriorate as 1,571 people were evacuated to 19 flood relief centres, a marked increase from the 1,008 affected on Friday.

Aftermath: Salbiah Sidek (left), 42, and her sister-in-law Azizah Muda, 50, cleaning their house at Kampung Kijing, Marang in Terengganu after it was flooded Saturday.

In Terengganu, the situation improved considerably as the number of flood victims at relief centres dropped from 774 on Friday to 580 yesterday.

In Pahang, conditions continued to improve and at 9am yesterday, 188 evacuees remained at relief centres compared with 244 on Friday.

In KANGAR, the Pok and Kassim Foundation sent two lorry loads of food and essential items to Kelantan flood victims, said foundation chairman Datuk Seri Dr Shahidan Kassim.