REMBAU: The nine-year-old boy who died after falling into a sewage pit at a school in Lenggeng, Nilai had previously expressed his desire to go to heaven, according to his father Khairol Rizal Mustafar.
Khairol Rizal, 42, never expected that the joke made by his only son, Abdul Fattah, would tragically come true.
He described Abdul Fattah, who was affectionately called Atah, as a pampered, active, and intelligent child who was the second of four siblings.
“My child was very happy to go to school today for sports and didn’t show any strange behaviour,” the father said when met by reporters at the Rembau Hospital’s forensic unit.
Khairol Rizal, who is also the chairman of the Parent-Teacher Association of his son’s school, recounted that no one witnessed the actual incident.
He stated that people only heard a loud bang before being informed that a student had fallen into the sewage pit.
“I was only informed after the sports tournament parade had finished, by then it was already chaotic,” he explained.
Khairol Rizal said he began searching the field but could only locate his younger child before his son’s friend revealed Abdul Fattah was missing from the sports tent area.
He started feeling unwell just before a teacher confirmed that the student who fell was his son.
Upon arriving at the scene, he found that members of the public had already extracted his son and were performing CPR.
The father said the last time he spoke to his son was during breakfast before school.
Khairol Rizal and his wife will deeply miss their son, who always sought kisses and handshakes before bed.
Abdul Fattah’s body will be buried at the Lenggeng Muslim Cemetery tonight.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education has instructed the Negeri Sembilan State Education Department to immediately investigate the incident.
Ministry director-general Dr Mohd Azam Ahmad said all school administrators have been reminded to ensure facilities are safe. – Bernama