A 56-year-old Singapore cyclist, who was missing since Sunday, May 6 in the last leg of a 160km cycling race, was found dead on Wednesday afternoon. The deceased disappeared while taking part in a cycling event, which took place in the Malaysian state, Perak's city Ipoh.
Reports stated that a search party was deployed to find the missing cyclist, Abdul Samat Ismail on Sunday. But, Perak police found the dead body of Abdul at around 1.50 pm in a clump of bushes along with his bicycle.
Abdul's friend and a bicycle shop owner, Mohamed Fadzli Hayof said that almost 50 police officers were searching the area on Tuesday night with the help of the dogs and the organizers also sent their own search team of about 20 to 30 people.
In addition to that Fadzli said that Abdul was like a father figure to him. The 38-year-old mentioned that the deceased used to come to play with his children and also supported the shop of Fadzli.
Perak Police Chief Ahmad Tarmizi Shaari said that the location from where the body was found, is nearby from the finish line of the event, Perak Century Ride 2018, where he was participating.
He also added that as per the initial investigation, the Singapore cyclist had fallen off his bicycle after fainting. He also said that the further investigation is still going on and to conduct an autopsy Abdul's body has sent to the Batu Gajah Hospital. His family was due to arrive in Ipoh at 5.30 pm on Wednesday.
The organizing committee of the Perak Century Ride 2018 posted on its Facebook page that the father of one girl, Abdul was missing since Sunday. He was last seen at water station 4 at around 1.45 pm, 24 km before the finish line.
The daughter of the deceased, Nurul Nadiah said on Tuesday that her father left on Saturday to participate in the cycling event. She said that on the same day Abdul had sent her few photos of the race participants.
Nurul, 29, also added that her father had complained about leg cramps during the cycling race and at the last water checkpoint the late cyclist told his friend to carry on. As per Abdul's daughter, it was the last time when both the friends saw each other.
Mahipal Singh, general manager of Singapore Cycling Federation said on Tuesday that he had never heard of a cyclist went missing during a cycling event. He also advised other cyclists to travel in pairs in another country, where the route is unfamiliar to them.
Just two days ago on Monday, May 7, the missing commercial diver's body was discovered in the sea off Sentosa. Jake Seet Choon Heng, 33, had gone missing since Saturday, May 5 near island resort of country's southern coast, Sentosa.
As Abdul and Jake both have died because of some unnatural reasons, the police investigation is ongoing to unveil the truth.
