IPOH: A man went missing in the jungle at Km82 of the East-West Highway after attending the call of nature by the roadside, near Gerik, about 180km from here, last night.
Gerik police chief Supt Mahad Nor Abdullah said N.Thalagaratnam, 48, from Lahat, Ipoh, disappeared in the 10pm incident.
He said the man and his friend M. Manibalan, 47, were on their way from Ipoh to Jeli, Kelantan.
“Upon arrival at the scene, the man asked his friend to stop the car to answer nature’s call,” he said when contacted by Bernama.
Mahad said after waiting for an hour in the car, his friend suspected something amiss when Thalagaratnam did not come back.
Manibalan waited in the car until 7.30am today before turning back to file a police report at the Gerik Police Station, he said.
A search and rescue operation was launched by the police, with help from the Fire and Rescue Department and Rela, but no trace of the man had been found.
Mahad said the operation would be resumed tomorrow as it was risky to proceed in the dark due to the steep and treacherous nature of the thick forest and the presence of wild animals.
Meanwhile, when contacted, Manibalan said he and his friend were on their way to Jeli to buy supplies for their business.
He added that he did not leave the car to look for Thalagaratnam because it was drizzling and the area was too dark.
“I worry that he may have slipped into the forest because the slope beside the road is steep,” he added. – Bernama
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