LIPIS: An Orang Asli youth was killed after a heap of soil fell on him while he was panning for gold in an oil palm plantation at Kampung Pos Pantos, Sungai Koyan near here yesterday.
The 18-year-old victim from Kampung Pantos had gone to the site in the wee hours of the morning with four friends when the incident struck.
Lipis police chief Superintendent Azli Mohd Nor said the Kampung Pantos village headman had informed the Sungai Koyan police station about the mishap around noon yesterday.
"The victim was believed to be panning for gold near a concrete culvert at the oil palm plantation with four friends about 3am yesterday. He dug the soil using his bare hands.
"Suddenly, a heap of soil from the section he allegedly dug earlier landed and buried him. His friends ran over and pulled him out from the soil before taking him back to the village," he said, adding the incident site was about 3km from the village.
Azli said the victim's remains were taken to Lipis Hospital and post-mortem revealed he died due to asphyxia resulting from the landslide.
He said policemen had gone to the scene and did not find any machines used for the gold mining activities.
The incident yesterday is the second involving gold mining activities in Lipis after a 44-year-old died when a boulder landed on him while panning for gold at Sungai Kadir in Kampung Sungai Temau near here in July last year.