Search now continues near Labuan
Published on: Friday, February 03, 2017
Kota Kinabalu: The search for the missing six will continue towards the south, off the Semarang ridge near Labuan, as wind conditions have shifted with the northeast monsoon."The search will go with the wind flow and we will bring the sectors down from the north to the south by tonight," said Kota Kinabalu Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) Chief First Admiral Adam Aziz.The search area has been divided into nine sectors in alphabetical order with assets from the MMEA, navy, police marine and air force assigned to search each sector.
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The search area remained at 3,900 nautical miles with additional assets in the form of a police aircraft, bringing the number of assets deployed to a total of 14 ships and boats, as well as seven aircraft and two vessels from Sarawak mobilised, as search and rescue efforts entered its sixth day on Thursday. Choppy waves of between 2.5 metres and 3 metres high also made it difficult to detect objects in the sea from an aerial view. Adam said they have also increased the number of personnel from 350 to 400 people scouring the area which included 750 nautical miles off Miri waters. "Weather remained clear in the morning but is expected to change drastically to rough conditions in the evening," he said.
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The search and rescue operation which began on Sunday has covered a total of 4,500 nautical miles starting with waters off Pulau Mengalum which later included Labuan, the Brunei border and Miri, in Sarawak. The six people, five of whom are tourists, were among 28 China tourists and three crew who left the Tanjung Aru jetty here for Pulau Mengalum about two hours' boat ride northwest of Kota Kinabalu at about 9am on Jan 28.
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Their failure to arrive prompted a search and rescue operation with 20 of the passengers and two crew members rescued by fishermen from waters near Labuan on Jan 29. Three others were found dead. The catamaran boat operator, including the skipper and a crew, who were among those rescued from the sea, have since been detained to facilitate investigations under Section 304A of the Penal Code for causing death by negligence.The 20 China tourists who survived the ordeal are currently warded at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital 1 and are expected to be discharged within a week. capStay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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