Fishing trip turns into nightmare

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RESCUED: Bani in his hospital bed.

MIRI: A fishing trip for an on-call offshore worker, Bani Bujang, 52, turned into a nightmare when his 24-foot long fibre boat capsized after being hit by a cargo ship early yesterday morning.

The cargo ship fled the scene after the incident, which was believed to have occurred at about 6am.

Bani is now being treated at Miri Hospital after he was found by several fishermen looking for crabs in a nearby area.

A report on the incident has been lodged at Miri Central Police Station.

“I was in my boat when I suddenly heard a loud ‘boom’ from behind, and the last thing I knew, I was flung out of my boat,” said Bani when met by The Borneo Post yesterday.

Bani was lucky as he managed to hold on to his capsized boat.

“I was hanging on to the boat for about 10 to 15 minutes before I was rescued,” he said.

According to him, his boat’s flashlight was turned on before the incident, and he was still wondering why the ship did not see his boat.

Bani had just sailed off from Kampung Pulau Melayu at about 6am yesterday before his boat was hit by the cargo ship.

He estimated his loss to be more than RM20,000.