A policeman (far left) and tugboat crew help to lift the deceased from the tugboat to be taken to Miri Hospital for post-mortem.
MIRI: A 71-year-old tugboat captain died when he reportedly fell off the boat while fishing at the Public Work Department (JKR) jetty in Piasau at about 8am yesterday.
It is understood that the deceased and five other crew members had left the jetty at about 6am but the deceased went back to the boat to fish.
He is believed to have fallen which caused injuries to his head.
His colleagues who saw the incident alerted the police.
A team of CID personnel rushed to the scene after receiving the distress call from the crew and spent several hours to investigate the incident.
Meanwhile, state CID chief Datuk Dev Kumar when contacted yesterday said police are investigating the case as Sudden Death pending post mortem result.
“We have reasons to believe it might be an accident, but we need to wait for post-mortem findings for confirmation.
“In the meantime, we will investigate it as a SD,” Dev said.
According to the deceased’s wife when met at the jetty yesterday, her husband had been working with the company since end of November last year.