BALING, Feb 13 — A Myanmar national who works in a farm here, died following a brawl with a compatriot at a watermelon farm in Kuala Ketil near here, on Sunday night.

Baling district police chief, Supt Shamsudin Mamat, said that the deceased, was identified as Kyuk Sikay, 36, while his fellow worker involved in the altercation sustained injuries and fled.

“The farm manager, received a voice message on the night of the incident via WhatsApp from one of the workers informing him about the brawl but was not provided with detailed information about the incident.

“He only listened to the voice message at around 7am the following day. After he called his workers at the farm, he learned that one worker had died, another worker was injured and had fled, and other workers had also fled. Subsequently, he lodged a police report,” he said in a statement today.

Shamsudin added that further investigations revealed that the incident occurred at the palm oil waste disposal area in the farm, with no surveillance cameras installed at the site.

“The deceased was found lying in a hole in the waste disposal area approximately 500 metres away from the tents set up for farm workers,” he said.

He added that an initial examination of the victim’s body revealed seven stab wounds to the front of the chest and one stab wound to the left rib area.

“Further forensic investigations found no other external injuries on the victim, and it is estimated that the victim died within 24 hours. Tracker dog units have been deployed to conduct a search for the suspect,” he said.

Shamsudin stated that the victim’s body was sent to the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital (HSB) in Alor Star for a post-mortem and the case is being investigated under Section 302 of the Penal Code.

“We have mobilised teams to track down and apprehend the suspect and inspections have also been conducted in the surrounding areas and nearby health clinics to locate the suspect and other workers who have fled,” he said. — Bernama