IPOH, Jan 7 — The body of a nine-year-old girl, believed to have drowned while playing at a jetty with her friend, was found at the Mat Shah jetty in Pulau Banding, Gerik, yesterday.

Gerik district police chief Supt Zulkifli Mahmood said a team from the Bersia police station rushed to the location of the incident after receiving an emergency call from members of the public at about 8.20pm.

Initial investigations revealed that there were no criminal elements involved.

Zulkifli said police will continue to carry out investigations. We spoke to the father of the victim who works in Pulau Banding. He stated that his daughter was playing at the jetty with her friend at about 6pm near Pulau Banding where boats were anchored.

Upon realising that she was missing at 6.30pm, he had started searching for her with the help of his friends. At about 6.50pm, his daughter’s body was found near the island, behind a boat close to the Mat Shah Boat House at a depth of 1.82 metres and contacted the Gerik Hospital,” he said in a statement today.

Zulkifli added that a check by the medical officers from the Gerik Hospital confirmed that the victim had died and the body was taken to the hospital’s forensic unit for a post-mortem.

"The post-mortem report confirmed that the cause of death was ‘drowning’. The body was later handed to the family of the victim for burial,” he said. — Bernama