Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Repok Road and Pulau Kijang Tragedy


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Father moved to this house at Repok Road in Sarikei. It harboured a dark secret.


In the December of 1973, an overloaded ship Pulau Kijang from Kuching to Sibu sank at the mouth of Rejang River. It was at the height of the torrential monsoon. A few hundred people drowned, there were few survivals. Most of the people were from Sarikei. Father was in the committee for the Pulau Kijang Ship disaster, Mother was a “volunteer” as the wife of a senior officer. They set up a temporary morgue. It was next to where Father was staying. Mother said, she could smell the terrible stench every time they passed by the building to town.
    The bodies were bloated, there were many missing parts. He had to comfort grieving relatives. He accompanied the Chief Minister, Datuk Tan Sri Yakkub. The CM cried, Father and Mother were sure those were real tears. Mother said she could not eat for days after seeing the drowned, body parts and their grieving relatives. 
    Mother told us that people believed that when a blood relative went to identify a body part, the part would bleed, but a non blood relative will not, even if they were a spousal relation. We do not know how true it was. It was gut wrenching to see relatives going from one part to another. They didn’t want their relatives to be homeless ghosts.

2 comments:

  1. Ann Is it a class II Quarter next to the football field at Hospital Road, Sarikei. I got two tales about this quarter.First my ex boss moved to this quarter sometimes in 1998 He was staying alone as his family did not accompanied him, he told me that his mini compo was turned on during midnight and music was heard. He thought that he forgot to turn off and he woke up to turn it off. then he went to sleep. the mini compo was turned on again. it was happened several times and he fed up and said who ever he/she is enjoy the music and he went to sleep. He was a brave man and a christian and after a weeks later, he had the quarter blessed and it didn't happened anymore. Before that my another ex
    boss related a story to me.He stayed there with his family and they had a first born son. The son was always smiling during the night as somebody was playing with him. Then one night, his wife saw a women playing with his son. They had a doa salamat and after that no such happening appeared again.

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