Alive 20 hours under water

Strange but true! Awang Simyor Mamit, 35, a local Bruneian from Kampung Pimping Membakut, about two hours drive from Kota Kinabalu was feared drowned when he did not surfaced from a 16 metres deep pond within the Bongawan Golf Resort on Sunday.

He had sneaked inside the golf course together with a friend to salvage golf balls from the ponds. Awang took one pond and the friend jumped into another.

The other friend went home around 5pm Sunday thinking that Awang was still collecting balls from the pond as his clothes and slippers were still at the pond bank.

Come Monday, Awang was still not home and his family made a missing person report at the Papar Police Station. Family members, villagers, police and divers were all at the site, keeping vigil and accepting the worst as Awang had been inside the pond underwater since 5pm Sunday.

A surprise to all at the golf course, at 7.15pm Monday, Awang emerged from the water hazard calling out for help. He was alive! Taken to a clinic in Membakut before transferred to the Beaufort Hospital.

At noon today, Daily Express crime reporter Durie Rainer Fong visited Awang at the hospital to get a story out of him of the incident.

Awang told Fong that he remembered going down to the bottom of the pond and was held down by four `beings'. He said the four would not want to released him and that all he could remember.

Awang said the next thing he knew was that he was in the hospital. Papar District Police Chief DSP Charles Labung Lawai said," I have nothing to explain this....this is the first time in life...this is strange to me."

My Say:

I concurred with the OCPD. Who can explain one is still alive after being under water for about 20 hours. But I do believed the story of my grandfather related to me long time ago. He told me there are `keepers' of the water which he said called `Tambaig' in our dialect. Not all Tambaig were bad, there were good ones, my grandfather told me. The good one will make friend with human being bathing in the water, they could take them underwater for days with no harm. After that the Tambaig will `return' them out of the water and whoever that will be will live to tell the story. I am sure Awang will eventually relate what the four `beings' did to him within the 5pm Sunday to 7.15pm Monday period.