Hamdi (left) watches as Ismaili (second right) coordinates the SAR efforts for the various departments and agencies involved at Tun Abang Salahuddin Maritime Complex in Muara Tebas.
KUCHING: One fisherman is missing while another survived after their boat capsized at Tanjong Po on being struck by a huge wave on Thursday night.
The incident only came to light around 6.30am yesterday when the sole survivor, Hamdi Jarawi, 47, turned up at a village in Muara Tebas after spending the night trekking through the jungle following his ordeal.
Hamdi, of Kampung Muara Tebas here, was said to have swam some 20 metres back to dry land after he and fellow villager Razali Pet, 36, were thrown into the sea when their fishing boat overturned around 11pm.
He initially clung to a rock not far from where their boat capsized before swimming to shore and calling out to Razali in the hope his friend had also managed to survive.
Failing to get any response from Razali, Hamdi decided to enter the jungle and trekked for the next four hours until he arrived at Kampung Selabat, where he sought the help of villagers to contact his family to inform them of what had happened.
State Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) director Ismaili Bujang Pit said two of the agency’s vessels were despatched to sea at 7am to find the missing victim after being informed of the incident by the victims’ families.
In a statement to the press yesterday, Ismaili said the victims’ boat found near Beting Batu Mandi later that morning was towed back to Kampung Muara Tebas by its villagers.
The SAR operation, which involved personnel from the state Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba), Malaysia Civil Defence Force (APM), police, and members of the Kampung Bako Bomba Volunteer Unit was postponed at 3.50pm due to unfavourable weather.