KLUANG, Dec 15 — The police has identified an elderly man who was reported missing after he was believed to have fallen into a storm drain along Jalan Ismail here yesterday as a retired armed forces commando.
Kluang police chief Assistant Commissioner Bahrin Mohd Noh said Ab Manan Keri, 73, was a former Special Operations Group (Grup Gerak Khas) operative and was thought to have fallen into the 2.4m-deep drain after attending an event with Johor’s Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar yesterday.
“A closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera at the Eng Choon Association building found that there was a silhouette of a person, believed to be the victim, falling into a large drain near Sungai Mengkibol.
“Following that, a search and rescue (SAR) operation was mounted consisting of a 50-strong team of personnel from Kluang’s district police headquarters, the fire and rescue station and the civil defence force,” said Bahrin in a press conference that was made available to the media at the operations control centre in Kampung Palembang here today.
On today’s SAR progress, Bahrin said that the operation focused on the riverbed of Sungai Mengkibol and nearby waterways.
“A total of three boats from the marine police and one from the Fire and Rescue Department have been deployed to the control centre.
“Following the poor weather conditions today, the operation was stopped at 6.30pm and will resume again at 8am tomorrow,” he said.
