Three killed off Pulau Gaya as boats collide
Published on: Sunday, May 26, 2019
By: Sherell Jeffrey
KOTA KINABALU: Two passenger boats collided off Pulau Gaya, at midnight on Friday, leaving three youths dead and seven others injured.
The all-male passengers in the ill-fated boat manned by a 20-year-old were heading towards the Safma jetty from the island’s Kampung Pondo when the tragedy happened.
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Police identified the deceased as a 15-year-old, 19-year-old and 20-year-old, whose bodies were retrieved from underneath the capsized boat.
The seven injured, aged between 12 and 20, including one in critical condition, were rescued by other boatmen in the area and rushed to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital 1.
City Police Chief ACP Habibi Majinji, in a statement, Saturday, said initial findings showed that the boat collided with another passenger boat manned by a 56-year-old which was heading towards the island from the fish market jetty.
The older boatman, who was ferrying an empty boat at that time, claimed to have heard sounds of an engine but did not see any boat light ahead of him.
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He claimed to have only realised that there was a boat in front, by which time it was too late.
He was detained to facilitate investigations after he turned himself in at the Pulau Gaya police station the same day.
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The case is being probed under Section 304A of the Penal Code for causing death by negligence and Section 280 of the Penal Code for rash navigation of a vessel.
A post mortem will be conducted on the three deceased to find out the actual cause of death, said Habibi.