Maran district police chief Norzamri Abd Rahman said the body of Muhammad Abdullah Saiful Bahari was found trapped among some tree branches in the river by villagers at about 10.30am today.

The place was about 1.2km from where the boy was believed to have fallen into the river, he said when contacted today.

He said the boy’s father had left him inside the car together with his six-year-old sister and eight-year-old brother at 12.45pm yesterday.

“The father said he left them in the car with the doors open. On realising the toddler had gone missing about 15 minutes later, he asked the two elder siblings about the boy but they did not know where he had gone,” he said.

The car was parked in an empty space near the river, about 3km from the main road.

Norzamri said police, firemen and Rela volunteers had mounted a search for the boy after being informed of his disappearance.

The boy’s father, Saiful Bahari Md Isa, 46, said it was normal of him to bring his children to the plantation as he was building a hut there.

“My heart sank when I realised that he was no longer in the car,” he told Bernama at the Hospital Jengka forensic unit here today.

Saiful said he immediately started searching for his youngest son but suspected that he might have fallen into the river after seeing the footprints of the toddler near the banks.

“I sought the help of friends to look for him. I also dived into the river several times to look for my son but it was to no avail,” he added.

Saiful said his car was parked just about 10 steps away from where he was erecting the hut.