Post by L Roebuck on May 3, 2006 20:23:09 GMT -5
Parents’ instincts save two lost boys
04 May 2006
BAU: They should have been tucked up safe and warm in their beds, but two little boys spent 43 fear-filled hours lost in the jungle.
Their ordeal could have lasted even longer, but for their parents following their instincts and leaving the main search party.
Milos Johed, 7, and his cousin Leonard Hendrick, 9, went missing on Monday around 3.45pm after following Milos’ elder brother John Febrie, 17, into the jungle to collect firewood at the foot of Gunung Serambu, near Kampung Sibulung, about 50km from here.
The boys were found in one of the Gunung Muan caves, about four hours walk from their village, at 9.30am yesterday by their parents.
"All we had for the past two days was water and raw baby prawns which we caught in the river. We slept in a cave," Milos said.
"For two nights, while we slept in the cave, we were very scared and freezing. During the day, we drank from the river nearby. We caught a few baby prawns and ate them raw since we do not know how to cook," Leonard said before being taken to Bau Hospital.
Though only nine and very scared, Leonard knew he had to look out for his younger cousin: "I knew Milos was very cold. I managed to find some big leaves to cover him because he was not wearing a shirt."
While the two boys cowered in the cave, their parents, with a team of 300 comprising police, Fire and Rescue Department, Rela personnel and villagers, combed the jungle near Gunung Serambu.
But Leonard’s father Hendrick Ahang, 48, said he and Milos’ mother Eyen Noiem, 43, had a feeling the boys were in the Gunung Muan area.
"Today (yesterday), more than 300 people were searching for the boys at Gunung Serambu. My instinct and Eyen’s told us that the boys were not around there. We believed the boys were in the Gunung Muan area," Hendrick said.
He said that after hiking for two hours towards the summit of the 600-metre Gunung Muan, they started calling the boys.
In a moment that will remain etched in his heart, Hendrick said: "The boys heard us and both of them came out of one of the caves. Then they came running towards us and started crying."
Eyen thanked God for keeping her son and his cousin safe.
"Neither of them suffered any injuries, although both were shivering from cold and hunger," she said.
Bau District Police Chief DSP Vincent Lian said the search and rescue was concentrated within 6km of where the boys were reported missing.
New Straits Times
04 May 2006
BAU: They should have been tucked up safe and warm in their beds, but two little boys spent 43 fear-filled hours lost in the jungle.
Their ordeal could have lasted even longer, but for their parents following their instincts and leaving the main search party.
Milos Johed, 7, and his cousin Leonard Hendrick, 9, went missing on Monday around 3.45pm after following Milos’ elder brother John Febrie, 17, into the jungle to collect firewood at the foot of Gunung Serambu, near Kampung Sibulung, about 50km from here.
The boys were found in one of the Gunung Muan caves, about four hours walk from their village, at 9.30am yesterday by their parents.
"All we had for the past two days was water and raw baby prawns which we caught in the river. We slept in a cave," Milos said.
"For two nights, while we slept in the cave, we were very scared and freezing. During the day, we drank from the river nearby. We caught a few baby prawns and ate them raw since we do not know how to cook," Leonard said before being taken to Bau Hospital.
Though only nine and very scared, Leonard knew he had to look out for his younger cousin: "I knew Milos was very cold. I managed to find some big leaves to cover him because he was not wearing a shirt."
While the two boys cowered in the cave, their parents, with a team of 300 comprising police, Fire and Rescue Department, Rela personnel and villagers, combed the jungle near Gunung Serambu.
But Leonard’s father Hendrick Ahang, 48, said he and Milos’ mother Eyen Noiem, 43, had a feeling the boys were in the Gunung Muan area.
"Today (yesterday), more than 300 people were searching for the boys at Gunung Serambu. My instinct and Eyen’s told us that the boys were not around there. We believed the boys were in the Gunung Muan area," Hendrick said.
He said that after hiking for two hours towards the summit of the 600-metre Gunung Muan, they started calling the boys.
In a moment that will remain etched in his heart, Hendrick said: "The boys heard us and both of them came out of one of the caves. Then they came running towards us and started crying."
Eyen thanked God for keeping her son and his cousin safe.
"Neither of them suffered any injuries, although both were shivering from cold and hunger," she said.
Bau District Police Chief DSP Vincent Lian said the search and rescue was concentrated within 6km of where the boys were reported missing.
New Straits Times