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KOTA KINABALU: Two children are missing after their father’s four-wheel-drive vehicle was washed away while crossing a bridge over the Liawan River when flash floods hit Sabah’s Keningau Inland District overnight.
The two boys, aged four and six, were inside the vehicle driven by their father, which was crossing a flooded bridge to drive home to Kampung Dangulad around midnight on Monday (November 9).
The father managed to get out of the vehicle, but was unable to get the children out because the rapid currents of the river dragged the vehicle downstream, according to witnesses at the scene.
Keningau Fire and Rescue Service Station chief Mudu Pengiran said they received a call for help around 12:08 a.m. Tuesday and immediately began operations to locate the vehicle and children.
“We found the vehicle but the children were not inside,” he said, adding that they stopped search and rescue operations at 1.30 am and resumed the search early in the morning.
The interior of Keningau was also affected by flash floods after Sungai Pampang overflowed.
Mudi said that at least two houses along the banks of the river were washed away due to heavy rains upstream.
“So far, at least five other houses have been damaged,” he said, adding that the floodwaters began to recede as of 11 pm.
He said there were no reports of casualties along the Pampang River area.
Many of the residents along the Pampang River left their homes after realizing that the water level was rising.
In 1996, more than 200 people died and many more disappeared after their houses were razed when the Pampang rose during Storm Greg.
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