A MAN has been reported missing after a longboat returning from delivering government food assistance to a longhouse in remote Ulu Kanowit, Sarawak, capsized late yesterday afternoon.

Two other men managed to swim to safety in the 5.30pm incident.

Meluan assemblyman Rolland Duat said the men were hit by heavy rainfall on their way back to their longhouse at Nanga Ensiring after delivering bags of rice to Nanga Nilau on the upper reaches of Sg Ensiring.

He told The Malaysian Insight the boat capsized near Nanga Senyuruk.

Nanga Ensiring is a two-hour boat ride away from Nanga Nilau. There is no road to Nanga Nilau, Duat added.

The Gabungan Parti Sarawak rep identified the missing man as Masing Seliong, in his 20s, from Rumah Gerasi in Nanga Ju.

“The upper reaches of the river in any ulu area is shallow, and a downpour can cause water levels to rise sharply and the water to be swift flowing.

“That’s what the men faced yesterday,” Duat said.

“What an irony. Here we are trying to feed hungry people to survive, only to pay for it with our lives.

“We knew of the dangers as it has been raining quite frequently in the area over the last few days,” Duat said.

“I told them to wait till it was safer but they (the three men) told me there are hungry people in the ulu who desperately need rice.”

A boat ride from the remote longhouses to the nearest town, Kanowit, for rice and other food essentials, is costly and effortful.

“They can come down (to Kanowit) with RM100 but that won’t guarantee they will still get their rice and other food supplies.

“The cost of petrol for the longboat is also high.”

A search-and-rescue (SAR) operation has been mounted for the missing man. Duat said the search has been made difficult by “a very muddy river”, whose shallow bottom has been churned up by the swift-flowing water.

“I hope they find him today.” – April 8, 2020.