MIRI: A fishing vessel with a captain and his four crew members has been missing from Miri waters since Tuesday.
WHERE IS IT?: The missing vessel.
Mike Sutai
Arpat Medan
The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) has launched a search-and-rescue operation since Thursday.
The incident brought a sense of deja vu to Arpat Medan, 61, of RPR Batu 6, whose son and son-in-law are on board.
Fourteen years ago, Arpat went through a similar ordeal when his eldest son Harbi @ Alex was shipwrecked. Then 14 years old, Alex went missing but was miraculously found alive three weeks later in a polystyrene box. He was hundreds of kilometres away from where the boat sank. Now 28 years old, Alex is back at sea working as a fishermen.
According to the vessel’s owner, Wong Chi Ping, 46, the crew of the vessel SF2-2787 failed to return to shore on March 29. A report was lodged yesterday out of fear that they might have got into difficulties at sea.
The five missing are Captain Mike Sutai, 31, and his four crew members: Mohd Suhardi @ Didi Arpat,18, Hadhi Masin,31, Abdul Hussen Sarihat,20, and Aditaskra Hosain.
Arpat who was lodging the report with Wong said Didi is his son and Captain Mike, his son-in-law.
Pujut incumbent Andy Chia Chu Fatt and Datuk Sebastian Ting, political secretary to Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water, visited the MMEA for the latest development in the search covering Miri and Bintulu waters. According to Sub Lt Ahmad Shafuruddin Jamaluddi of MMEA office in Miri, two patrol boats were conducting a round-the-clock search of Miri waters, off Helang and the F6 and F 11 offshore platforms in Bintulu waters following a report received at 11.30 am on Thursday.
The patrol boats were deployed for the search within 10 minutes but the boat remained elusive.
The agencyís Air Wing has been notified and the Royal Malaysian Air Force will be deploying an aircraft to assist in the aerial search.
Chia urged the agency to contract their Brunei counterpart to be on the lookout for the vessel in Brunei waters as well as the authorities in Labuan as sea currents had shifted north.
The vesselís owner Wong had received calls from the fishing fraternity that a vessel fitting the description was seen in waters about 28 to 30 nautical miles off Kuala Baram yesterday morning. He hoped this lead would be followed through.
According to Wong, the boat was fishing together with another boat in waters near E11 platform before going separate ways: SF2-2787 headed for shore while the other in the direction of the D35 platform.
Radio communication had broken down, and both Wong and the authorities suspect that engine failure could have caused the vessel to remain incommunicado in the past two days.
“The vessel is sturdy with food and water rations that could last 10 days, and I suspect it could be drifting,” Wong said.
Chia has extended the search into cyber space by putting a call for help from all those passing these waters, including helicopter pilots and crews.
“We are calling on everyone at sea and in the air to help locate this vessel, and I have posted this call with the picture of the vessel on Facebook,” he said.
Chia said foul weather had complicated the situation as strong winds of 40 to 60 km, classified under Stage II warning by the Meterological Department, were keeping small fishing boats onshore since Thursday.
As of press time, the vessel has yet to be located and the families of the missing crew are praying for their safety during this time of stormy seas.