Body of Sri Aman’s MPV crash victim found

KUCHING (Jan 6): The body of a man, who had gone missing after his multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) crashed and plunged into the Batang Lupar on Monday, was found yesterday afternoon.

Sri Aman District police chief Supt Dennis Bunyam said the body of 63-year-old Celsus Khaw Choon Seng, was found at 12.10pm in the upstream section of the river at Pruan Sungai.

“Family members had confirmed the identity.

“For now, this case is classified as sudden death post-mortem to determine the cause of death.

“The body has been sent to the Sri Aman Hospital Forensics Department,” he said in a statement.

It was reported Khaw, from Jalan Ensing Batu Kawa here, had left home at 4pm on Sunday, driv-ing his MPV and heading towards Sri Aman for a personal errand.

In an earlier statement, Dennis said Khaw’s next-of-kin had tried to contact him.

“However, the victim is yet to be found (at the time). A police report was later lodged.”

Meanwhile, Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) had dispatched firefighters from the Sri Aman station, following a distress call at 10.48am on Monday, reporting that a vehicle was in the river, about 30m downstream.

After conducting checks, the team found that there were no one inside the vehicle.

Checks around the riverbank area was also carried out.

With the discovery of the body yesterday, the search-and-recover (SAR) operation concluded.