PASIR PUTEH: A 22-year-old man who was reported missing since Monday (Jan 10) after fleeing into a forest has been found naked and clinging to a tree in a swamp near a fishing village in Tok Bali here.

       Pasir Puteh district police chief Deputy Supt Ediansha Endal said Ahmad Zul Mukhriz Zakaria was found by villagers who went to the scene after hearing shouts for help at about 8.15pm on Wednesday (Jan 12).

       "The man was found in a weakened condition and there were scratches on several parts of his body. He was sent to Tengku Anis Hospital, Pasir Puteh, for treatment,” he said in a statement Thursday (Jan 13).

       He said a search and rescue operation involving 44 members of the Fire and Rescue Department, Civil Defence Force, Malaysian Fisheries Development Board and Rela was mounted following a missing persons report on Ahmad Zul.

       The man was said to have fled into a forest near a fishing village in Tok Bali after seeing a police patrol car. – Bernama