SAR Day 5
KUCHING: Rescuers in search of six fishermen reported missing in two separate incidents on October 2 and 3 have recovered an unidentified dead body believed to be one of the missing victims.
Officials at the scene said the body was taken to Telaga Air Jetty using a boat and was handed over to the police to be taken to Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) for autopsy.
It is learnt that the body was recovered by a fishing boat about six nautical miles from Pulau Satang Besar at 4.30pm on Wednesday (Oct 6).
In an update prior to the finding of the body, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) Sarawak director, First Admiral (Maritime) Zin Azman Md Yunus, said the Okinawa boat that sank 2.8 nautical miles northwest of Pulau Satang was recovered and brought to shore by its owner.
He said the boat was taken to the Telaga Air jetty at about 2pm.
However, he said as of 4pm, the fifth day of the Search and Rescue Operations (SAR) for Awang Omar Awang Hasmawi who was reported missing on Oct 2 had not found any new clues on his whereabouts.
“The search area today is 312.71 square nautical miles, with the focus of the search covering the sea and the coast of Tanjung Po, Lakei Island, Santubong, Tanjung Sipang, Pulau Satang, Trombol Beach, Telaga Air and Tanjung Datu,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.
He said the SAR operations was also joined and assisted by several local fishing boats with a total of 150 officers and staff members in the rescue team.
As for the SAR operations for five fishermen who were reported missing since October 3, Zin Azman said no new clues were found by the rescue team as of 4pm.
He said the search area covered an area of 439.5 square nautical miles concentrated around the waters of Tanjung Datu, 15 nautical miles from the coast.
He added that the search by air was done in the waters of Santubong up to Tanjung Datu.
“Ten fishing boats from the local maritime community also searched the coast from Tanjung Po to Tanjung Datu and in the nearby rivers around the waters of Santubong to Sebuyau.
“Besides that, the search was also extended to the shores of Teluk Asam and Teluk Belian,” he said, adding that the total number of officers and staff members of the rescue team was 65 people.
