One of the students, Muhammad Zul Fahmi Zuki, 21, feared drowned at Pantai Teluk Bidara, had never been known to have taken a dip in the water on his previous trips.
His father, Zuki Ab Razak, 53, said he did not expect his son to go swimming with his five friends yesterday afternoon because he did not know how to swim.
“Since childhood, Fahmi had never taken a dip in the sea whenever we went to the beach,” he said when met at the scene this morning.
He also said Fahmi, who was active in sports, had not returned to his home in Kemaman for the past three weeks as he was busy training for the polytechnic’s sports tournament to be held today.
Zuki said he only learned of the incident when a mother of another student feared drowned contacted him at 7 last night.
He was praying the remains of his son and three other friends will be found as soon as possible.
A witness, Mohamed Irfan Kamarulzaman, 21, who was also the victim’s friend, said he and another friend, Mohammad Hazman Mohd Zamili, 21, tried to rescue the four but could not do much due to the huge waves.
“We threw floats to them. I didn’t dare to jump into the water because I don’t know how to swim.”
In the 6.30pm incident yesterday, Fahmi, Mohamad Amir Izzudin Zulkiflee, Muhamad Luqman Hakim Al Rashid Mohamed Sabarudin and Muhammad Ikhwan Ahmad Azhan, all aged 21, were lounging at a rocky area of the beach when they slipped and fell into the water before being swept away by the waves.
Terengganu Fire and Rescue Department operations division assistant director Mohd Salahuddin Isa said patrol boats were combing the area.
The department’s deputy director, Sharikan Bustaman, said the search was extended to Pantai Sura as bodies of drowned victims were usually found around this location, so much so the locals call it “Teluk Mayat”.
Sharikan said 36 firefighters, 23 Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency personnel, 15 policemen, 10 Civil Defence Force personnel, six marine policemen, three People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela) members and four civilians were involved in the search operation.