SAR op for two victims of capsized boat ends

CHUKAI, Aug 13 (Bernama) -- The search and rescue (SAR) operation to find the missing two victims of a capsized boat incident in the waters of Kemaman ended at 7 pm today.

Kemaman Maritime Zone operations deputy director Muhammad Faisal Abdul Rahim said the operation which was carried out for three days was called off as the SAR team failed to find any clues.

However, he said efforts to locate the victims will be carried out on a smaller scale by the Terengganu branch of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) in the vicinity of the incident.

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"Nine divers from the Diving Squadron, under the coordination of the MMEA Special Task and Rescue Team (STAR Team), have dived in an area of ​​120 square metres to search for the boat's hull," he said in a press conference at the Kemaman Maritime Zone Pangkalan Hadapan here today.

"Even though the visibility was good at a distance of 10 metres and the sea currents were also normal, the diving squad still failed to find any clues."

Muhammad Faisal said the search operation today involved an area of 407.84 square nautical miles including sea and land.

He said his team believed that the search efforts failed to find the hull of the sunken boat because it had been swept away by a strong currents on the day of the incident.

"Today's operation involved five air and sea assets with 80 personnel from the MMEA, Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) and marine police.

"From tomorrow, only two MMEA assets will patrol the area around the site of the incident in search of the two victims," ​​he also said.

In the meantime, he requested that the maritime community pass on information if they find any objects or clues related to the incident.

-- BERNAMA