RMN inquiry to hear how warship 'loses' gunboat
Published on: Friday, October 10, 2014
SEPANGGAR: A naval inquiry to convene in two weeks' time will hear how the KD Paus, a warship tasked to escort the much smaller CB204 gunboat, "lost" the smaller vessel, according to the Royal Malaysian Navy's Region Two Commanding Officer, Rear Admiral Datuk Mohammad Rosland Omar.The two ships were supposed to sail within a communication range of three to four nautical miles of one another, he said."So what happened there (KD Paus losing contact of CB204) will all be looked into during the inquiry.
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"What happened, how it happened, why it happened, we all want to know that," Rosland said after welcoming the return of the CB204's crew at the Sepanggar Naval Base, some 30km outside Kota Kinabalu, Wednesday.The craft was heading out Layang Layang on Sunday morning when it lost radio contact with KD Paus.He said depending on the findings of the inquiry, officers, including those who planned the operation, could face the court-martial.Rosland said all questions on the incident, which nearly resulted in the Navy losing a warship and seven sailors.
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Questions have been raised as to how the Navy could have allowed the 16-metre long Swedish-built CB204, with a displacement of 20,000lbs when fully loaded, to set sail into a typhoon-whipped sea.Recalling the incident, CB204 commander Lt Azri Bakar said the boat lost its escort ship after KD Paus commander ordered both ships to return to port due to high waves.
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CB204, according to Azri, was taking water and his men had to use buckets to bail them out.The rookie commander said the situation worsened, and on top of failing to contact the war ship on his radio, one of the boat's two engines broke down followed by a steering damage."We were going round in circles in the turbulent sea. There was no way we could get to Station 5, the naval station we were ordered to go to, with the damaged steering," he said.Azri said realising the danger, he ordered the remaining engine to be shut down to allow the boat to drift.Azri and his seven crew men took turns bailing out water and attempted to repair the engine.Before drifting away from the shipping lanes, Azri said he was able to contact a passing merchant ship and asked the captain to relay their position to the nearby naval headquarters, an action which led the navy to locate the boat the following day.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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