KUCHING, March 16 — The search for missing four-year-old Eric Chang Wei Jie has been called off at 6pm today and will resume again tomorrow early morning.

The search operation today started at 9am today along the river shoreline in Muara Tebas.

In a statement, the Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) said the search operation covered an area of around 800 metres from the operation’s temporary command post.

"This morning, we did not find any clues during the search along the coastline,” said Senior Fire Officer II Steven Ambu from the Bomba Sarawak K9 unit at the scene.

Under his care is an English Springer Spaniel cadaver dog named Cliff, who is part of the search and rescue team.

He added that Cliff has been trained to seek cadavers on land or across a body of water such as rivers, lakes and ponds.

"If a human body drowns in a body of water, it will release gas bubbles as it decomposes. Cliff is able to detect the scent of a single bubble of these gasses,” said Steven.

He added that the search for Eric would also be conducted underneath the nearby houses and seafood restaurants that are built along the riverbank on stilts above the water.

"However, we have to wait for low tide to carry out the search underneath these premises as it is too low for us to go underneath it to conduct the search,” said Steven.

After the water tide in the area rose around 2pm, the search for Eric continued along the river by Bomba together with the police, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), Sarawak Rivers Board, Royal Malaysia Police Air Wing Unit and several villagers.

According to Bomba, the search was conducted within a radius of 1.2 kilometre from the Bomba’s temporary command post.

After an extensive search, the search and rescue operation was called off at 6pm with no new clues and will resume tomorrow morning.

The search for Eric started in Muara Tebas on Sunday after his caregiver admitted to police that his body was dumped in the area.

The caregiver, who was arrested together with her husband, is currently being investigated under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder. — Borneo Post Online