Photo shows the location of the boat carrying five anglers which went missing on Oct 3. — UKAS photo
KUCHING (Oct 5): The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) has confirmed that another five individuals are confirmed missing after they failed to return to the jetty at Telaga Air yesterday.
MMEA Sarawak director First Admiral Zin Azman Md Yunus said that the five anglers were said to have boarded a boat heading to the waters of Karam Berumput and Tukun Bass some 9.3 nautical miles from Santubong.
He said that the five individuals are all males and have been identified as Khamizan Saidi, 40 (skipper); Ng Ching Hui, 36; Christopher Teo, 32; Yap Tze Kang, 41; and Leo Dy Lee Jiann Tarn, 35.
Zin Azman said that the Maritime Rescue Sub Centre (MRSC) Kuching under MMEA (Maritime Malaysia) immediately activated the search and rescue (SAR) operation after receiving news of the missing individuals at around 7am on Sunday.
“After receiving the report, MRSC immediately channelled the information to the relevant agencies and the surrounding community on the incident.
“According to the police report, the boat that was boarded by the individuals left Jetty 98, Santubong Fishing Village at around 5pm on Oct 1 and they could not be contacted after that,” he said.
As of 3pm today, he said that the SAR teams have not found any signs of the five anglers’ whereabouts.
“We only found an orange buoy yesterday at a distance of 34.5 nautical miles from the Santubong river estuary, which was confirmed by the boat owner,” Zin Azman said.
Today’s search for the five missing anglers covered a sea area of about 101 nautical miles and involved the Maritime Malaysia asset KM Cekal and three assets of the Air Wing unit of PDRM (Beachcraft King Air B300, Ecureuil AS355N helicoper and Cessna Caravan C204) for the air search.
“We have also alerted the maritime community around the area to assist us with the SAR. The total number of personnel involved were about 90 personnel from various agencies including Sarawak MMEA,” he said.
Maritime Malaysia welcomes any information from the maritime community in reporting any emergency at sea directly to the MERS 999 hotline or the 24-hour Malaysia Maritime Operations Centre Sarawak hotline at 082-432544.