BATU NIAH, Malaysia: It was a harrowing experience for five teenagers who got lost for almost 34 hours in the jungles and crocodile-infested rivers of the Sibuti and Niah districts south of Miri before they were found in a plantation about 40km away yesterday.
The SMK Subis students, aged between 13 to 17, had gone on a picnic and fishing expedition on Sunday and they were believed to have lost their way in the dense jungles.
Since it was the school holidays, the teenagers were believed to have used a boat to venture into the rivers in the Sungai Subis tributaries for an adventure.
Their worried parents lodged a report at the Batu Niah central police station at about 1pm when they failed to return to their Rumah Anchang longhouse in the Niah National Park.
Two search and rescue operations which involved the police, Rela, the fire and rescue department, longhouse folks as well as volunteers from riverine settlements were deployed.
The boys were finally found in a plantation in the Bekenu district.
In another incident, an 84-year old man from a riverine longhouse in Sungai Sibuti has also been reported missing since Saturday while looking for jungle produce in Sibuti. Until press time, he has not been found.
Miri police chief Asst Comm Jamaluddin Ibrahim confirmed last night that his officers had found the teenagers alive.
"We have sent our men to comb the jungles and the rivers to look for the boys. In Sibuti, we have sent more than 20 police personnel to search for the old man. We are trying to determine which direction he was heading.
"We hope that we can get information from people who last saw him before he went into the forests."
The police had sent several teams and sought the help of other relevant departments in the search for the boys and the old man. It is learnt that the search and rescue operations involved more than 100 people.
The southern part of the Miri division is densely forested while the Niah and Sibuti districts are a part of the Niah National Park.
The river tributaries are long and winding, even though the rivers are not too deep. -The Star/ANN