Ex-cop who saved boy from drowning 19 years ago wants to meet up with him

Former police officer Umar Kamarudin treasures the thank you card he received from the boy he saved from drowning 19 years ago. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: A retired police officer is yearning to meet a boy he saved from drowning nearly 20 years ago.

Umar Kamarudin, 67, told Bernama that he had tried to trace the boy, Desmond Kwek, using social media but had failed.

“I hope to be able to meet him and see how he has progressed. How he is progressing now that he is an adult.

“It was an experience I cannot forget. If given the chance, I want to see him and ask how he is. To say hello to him and his family,” he said.

Umar, who retired from the police force as a superintendent in Bukit Aman, is now a project director at a local construction company.

He said he still treasured a thank you card from the boy that he received a few months after the incident.

Recalling the unforgettable experience on May 8, 2005, Umar said he was with his wife and their two children at the swimming pool of KL Plaza Suites, now known as Fahrenheit Suites, to spend their weekend.

He noticed the boy, who was about six or seven years old, in the adult pool, frantically trying to keep afloat.

“I looked away for a while and when I turned back, I saw the boy no longer there. I then ran to the spot where I had seen him and saw him at the bottom of the pool.

“I shouted at the others in the pool to pull out the child. He was already limp.”

Umar then administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation which he had learned during police training. The boy vomitted out the water he had swallowed and became conscious. He was taken away to hospital in an ambulance.

Umar said there were no lifeguards at the swimming pool at the time.

According to the father of four, the noisy atmosphere at the swimming pool turned quiet with everybody in shock as a result of the incident which had become etched in his memory.