PENGERANG, Sept 3 — The family of a teenager feared drowned at Pantai Tanjung Lompat near Bandar Penawar said they were unaware he had gone camping at the beach with friends.

Muhammad Thaqif Rayyan, 16, was among six boys who got into trouble while swimming at the beach on Wednesday morning. The group of six was part of 15 boys who had camped overnight at the site near Tanjung Balau in Penawar.

Nur Adriana Dania Rumainoor, 24, the victim’s older sister, said Muhammad Thaqif had only told her he was going out with friends but did not specify they were heading to the beach. “He told me he was going somewhere else. I only found out when one of his friends told me that he had drowned,” she said. She added that she had been particularly close to her youngest brother, having taken care of him following their mother’s passing in 2021.

Muhammad Thaqif’s father, Rumainoor Salleh, 47, noted that his son had been unusually quiet and withdrawn in the days before the incident, spending much of his time indoors. “He usually goes out at night, but for a week he stayed in his room and did not go out,” he said.

Rescue efforts were led by the Penawar Fire and Rescue Station. Muhammad Adib Tarmuzi, the station’s operations commander, said one body was recovered at 1:25 p.m. on Wednesday and identified as 16-year-old Alif Taqiuddin Kamal Hasrul. Two boys, Mohamad Faqrul Isqandar Abdullah and Muhammad Afiq Ruzaini Mazlan, both aged 16, were rescued earlier by other beach-goers. The other two missing teenagers, Mohamad Haiman Fitri Supian and Muhammad Adib Hafiy Kamal, both 16, remained unaccounted for as of Thursday.

The rescue team initially conducted searches along the shoreline before deploying a drone unit from the Johor Fire and Rescue Department around noon to assist in locating the missing youths.

In a separate incident in Sabah, the body of an 11-year-old girl who had gone missing in Sungai Bengkoka, Pitas, was found on Wednesday. Noor Jali Maslah, chief of the Pitas Fire and Rescue Station, stated the girl was discovered by villagers approximately one kilometre from the Fire and Rescue Control Centre.