Family members pay their last respects at the funeral service.
SIBU (Dec 9): The late General Operations Force (GOF) personnel Sergeant Simon Laja who drowned in a ‘kepala air’ (water column) phenomenon in Ulu Baram on Dec 3 was laid to rest at Nirvana Memorial Park here at 11.45am today.
He was laid to rest with full police customs, and the service was attended by his family members, relatives and friends who turned up to pay their last respects.
Also present to pay their last respects were Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani, Bukit Aman Department of Internal Security and Public Order director Datuk Seri Abd Rahim Jaafar, Sarawak Police Commissioner Datuk Aidi Ismail, Sarawak GOF commander SAC Mancha Ata and Sibu police chief ACP Stanley Jonathan Ringgit.
Simon, 47, from the 12th GOF Battalion in Miri and an auxiliary policeman known only as Kemian, 50, were killed after being swept away by the phenomenon during a routine patrol in the Sabah-Sarawak Gas Pipeline (SSGP) area at Sungai Melana, Long Kerangan in Ulu Baram when the incident occurred at about 6pm.
They were seven of them including three Samling Timber Sdn Bhd employees conducting the patrol.
Acryl (second right) consoles Ensunie and her children as Mancha (right) look on.
Aidi had said in a statement on Dec 5 that all of them were walking in a shallow river when they were suddenly swept away by swift currents.
“Five of them managed to save themselves except for Simon and Kemian who were found to be missing after that,” he said.
Their bodies were later found one kilometre apart on Dec 4 in Sungai Layun near a pile of logs in the river.
Simon’s body was the first to be found at 2pm while Kemian’s body was found at 2.30pm.
Simon, who hailed from Sungai Berangan, Sarikei is survived by his wife Ensunie Ungat, 45, and five children aged five to 24.
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