Kuala lumpur: A fisherman is feared to have drowned after falling overboard while fishing for prawns in the waters of Sungai Baru, near Batu Layang, Simpang Empat, early this morning.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, Kangar district police chief ACP Yusharifuddin Mohd Yusop said Khairul Amir Bahroom, 33, who was not wearing a life preserver, was with his older brother catching prawns when he fell overboard at about 3.30 am.

'His brother tried to find him at the surface in the nearby area but suspected he had drowned as he did not surface,' he said in a statement today, adding that the brother lodged a police report at the Simpang Empat police station at 5.53 am.

A search and rescue operation was launched to look for the victim, and is ongoing, he added.

Meanwhile, Kuala Perlis maritime zone director Cmdr (M) Nak Rong A/L Si Prom told reporters today that information indicated that the victim suffered a seizure and fell overboard and that his brother decided to return to shore to lodge a police report as it was still dark.

He said that the search began at the location where the victim was last seen and the search radius would be expanded in stages if the victim was still missing, adding that the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency would assist search efforts at night and the following day.