SUNGAI SIPUT, May 9 — Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, who shot into the international spotlight for earning a caning for drinking alcohol, lost her eldest child today after he drowned in the river behind the family home here.

The boy, Muhammad Azfar Muhammad Affandi, 9, was reported missing yesterday and believed to have fallen into the Sungai Perak.

Sungai Siput district police chief Supt Azman Salim said a search-and-rescue team was despatched after the report was filed at about midnight; and had found the child’s body nearly two hours later, about one kilometre downriver from where he was reported missing

“Azfar was found in an unconscious state and [his body] has been sent to the Sungai Siput district hospital for an autopsy,” the cop told The Malaysian Insider when contacted.

News portal Bernama Online reported that villagers, together with the Civil Defence Department, firemen and Rela workers, mounted a massive search for the boy that lasted till midnight but failed to find him.