TAWAU: The brother of a Taiwanese tourist shot dead at a Pulau Pom Pom resort in Semporna, visited the victim’s remains at the mortuary here accompanied by the brother of the victim’s wife yesterday as soon as they landed at Tawau Airport.
The brother of the victim, Lim Min Hsu, 57, arrived about 3.50pm and put on a ritual vest before entering the mortuary, though he had to wait for a hospital staff to unlock the mortuary door.
As brisk as their arrival they left at 4.10pm in two tourist vans accompanied by several police cars.
Local, national and the media from Taiwan were kept at a distance as they snapped photos and filmed from outside the fence and closed gate of the mortuary.
Obviously, not welcomed, the local media behaved, along with about five from Taiwan – some waited as early as 3pm – as they went about performing their duty without any hitches.
The media pursued the victim’s relatives at a local hotel where they were put up and the kidnapped woman’s brother when interviewed said he could not say much as it would jeopardize the investigation.
When asked whether any ransom had been asked, he said he would not comment on that either.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that they would be visiting Semporna today after the autopsy was done, and cremation of the victim’s remains is expected to be on Thursday.
Filipino gunmen shot dead Lim and abducted his wife Chang An Wei at Pom Pom island resort on early Friday morning.
Chang is in the custody of Abu Sayyaf linked gunmen in the Southern Philippines.
Police yesterday confirmed that one of the family members of the Taiwanese couple who were killed and abducted at a resort at Pom Pom Island in Semporna, had arrived in the state to claim his body.
Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Hamza Taib said police had been informed of the matter and the family member was at the Tawau hospital to verify and claim the body.
“The deceased’s family is in Tawau to verify the identity of the victim. This will be done once an autopsy has been carried out by our pathologist tomorrow (today). Once this is done, we will know the actual cause of the death for the family to bring the body back home for burial,” he said yesterday.
Meanwhile, Hamza once again urged all parties not to make any speculation as the case is still under investigation.
“We are working closely with our counterparts and have received positive cooperation from them. However, we cannot reveal everything as this is still an ongoing investigation. Let the police do their work,” he said.