Yousry points to the location of the SAR on the map, as ASP Wan Sazaly Jaafar from the Marine Police looks on.
KUCHING (Apr 19): A diver from a group of six is feared missing while diving 23 nautical miles from Satang Island near here Saturday evening.
Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) Sarawak deputy director of Operations, Captain Yousry Yaali said the Maritime Rescue Sub Centre (MRSC) Kuching was notified of the incident around 8pm by the Fire and Rescue Department operations centre through MERS 999.
“MRSC Kuching immediately activated a search and rescue operation (SAR) around 9pm on Saturday and today (yesterday) we also established a front base centre at Telaga Air Public Jetty at 8am,” he told a press conference at the jetty yesterday.
He informed that all divers in the group, including the missing 31-year-old Chong Su Sian, are qualified divers.
According to the complainant who is the victim’s brother, his sister’s disappearance was discovered an hour and 20 minutes into a dive when she did not emerge from the water.
“The victim’s brother and their other diver friends then tried to look for her around the position where she was believed to be missing but to no avail.
“In fact, the victim’s brother said two of their diver friends heard the sound of a whistle from the sea but were not able to detect the direction of the whistle,” he said.
Yousry added that yesterday’s search focused on a radius of two nautical miles from the last position the victim made the dive.
“As of 1pm today (yesterday), we still have not found any new indicators. The divers from the Marine Police had dived at the location around 2pm, following the tide to a depth of 21 metres which made the search easier.
“We hope our search will find new clues to track the location of the victim. We would like to request the maritime community especially fishermen nearby to assist us in the search and channel any information to us should they find any clues,” he said.
Yesterday’s SAR involved 23 personnel from MMEA, Sarawak Coast Guard, Civil Defence Force (APM) and the Marine Police.
“We urge the maritime community to prioritise their safety especially when out at sea.
“If possible, suspend any sea activity if the situation does not warrant it. If you need to go out to sea, practise safety precautions by wearing a safety jacket and bring a personal locater beacon (PLB) device to make it easier for MMEA to identify the location in the event of an emergency,” said Yousry.
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