Tanjung Piai: Three missing, two saved in boat mishap

JOHOR BAHRU, July 7 -- Three Indonesians are missing and two were rescued when a boat overturned when fleeing from the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Authority (MMEA) off Tanjung Piai, near Pontian, early this morning.

Johor MMEA director, First Maritime Admiral Aminuddin Abdul Rashid said the boat with five people including the skipper overturned 4.3 nautical miles south east of Tanjung Piai at about 2 am.

He said a man and a woman, both believed to be Indonesians, were simultaneously picked out of the water after the mishap.

He said the man, believed to be the skipper of the boat, was rescued at the scene of the incident and the woman was saved by a ship anchored 4.5 nautical miles east of Tanjung Piai.  

‘’Based on preliminary information, a search at the scene could not find the three other victims of the mishap comprising two women and a man,’’ he said in a statement here, today.

Aminuddin said a search and rescue of the missing boat passengers involved a ship and four boats from MMEA, Royal Malaysian Police, Royal Malaysian Navy and the Royal Customs Department of Malaysia covering 40 nautical square miles.

He said information on the mishap was also channeled to merchant ships in the area, Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency and the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore.

Any information on the missing victims could be channeled to the Johor State Maritime Operations Centre (07-2199404), he added.

-- BERNAMA