Teen does not finish race, goes missing

A student in Terengganu has gone missing after taking part in a marathon race in Sekayu on Saturday morning.

Ahmad Rafikin (right), 16, who was among 540 race participants, did not complete the Gunung Gajah Terom marathon.

His father, Mr Azman Othman, made a police report at about 6pm on Saturday.

The 50-year-old had earlier notified the organisers when he could not find his son, a student of Sekolah Menengah Sains Sultan Mahmud, Kuala Terengganu, when he went to fetch him at about 3pm after the race had ended.

All the other participants in his category had returned by that time.

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The Malaysian police have doubled their efforts and manpower in their search-and-rescue operation for the Form Four student, reported Malaysia's The Star.

Hulu Terengganu police chief, Deputy Superintendent Hussin Deraman, said they have decided to use four tracker dogs.

"After waiting for some time, Mr Azman, an assistant director at the Terengganu Education Depart­ment, made the police report.

"We have increased the number of personnel involved in the search and rescue operation from 42 to 92. Rain and darkness will not hamper our efforts to find him," he said.

It is learnt that the boy had slept in a tent at the location on Friday night and that he had left his mobile phone at home.

A spokesman for the race secretariat, Mr Mohd Rafi Kori, said Ahmad had passed the first checkpoint of the race for the junior 12km category at 9.26am but did not complete the race.

This article was first published on Nov 4, 2014.
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