BATU PAHAT (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - A two-year-old boy who followed his 67-year-old grandfather to pick rambutans near their house drowned in a ditch after the elderly man forgot about him.

The man had brought his grandson Adam Amin Jefri along to a rambutan tree located some 60m from his house in Kampung Parit Mustafa, Parit Sulong, at around 12.30pm on Wednesday (Sept 7).

After picking the fruit, the grandfather forgot about Adam and went home to take a nap.

The boy's body was found floating in the 1m ditch by a villager at 3pm.

A relative, who refused to be identified, said the whole family, including Adam's parents, were still grieving over his death.

"I remember seeing Adam happily playing near his grandfather by the tree when I was inside my house.

"So it was very shocking to hear about the terrible incident hours later.

"Maybe it was meant to be and we have to accept the fact that we cannot blame anyone for the incident. But we cannot help feeling sad," he said on Thursday (Sept 8).

The relative said that Adam had lived with his grandfather since he was born while his parents worked and lived in Shah Alam with a younger sibling.

Batu Pahat OCPD Asst Comm Abdul Wahib Musa said Adam was pronounced dead at the Parit Sulong Health Clinic when the body was rushed there after being found.

The case was classified as sudden death following a post-mortem at Hospital Sultanah Nora Ismail, he said.

He added that the toddler was buried at the Kampung Parit Mustafa Muslim cemetery on Wednesday night.