The fishermen resting after their rescue.
LABUAN: The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) recently rescued four fishermen found drifting off Pulau Tiga after experiencing boat problem.
MMEA District Maritime 14 Labuan Deputy Director (Operation), Maritime Commander Nor Bakari Abu Bakar said that the Labuan Maritime Operation Room received the report at about 11am concerning the fishermen.
He said that a search and rescue operation using a patrol boat was immediately launched but due to the choppy sea condition, the patrol boat has to turn back to the MMEA Labuan jetty.
The operation was then continued using a maritime patrol ship and the fishing boat was located 15 nautical miles north of the Tanjung Kubung Labuan at about 6.50pm.
All the fishermen, Ali @ Charlie M. Yusoff, 62, Wilfred Balang Singa, 38, Jamhari Bujang, 54, and Amir Ahmad Astor, 33, were successfully rescued.
According to one of the fishermen, they went out to sea to fish on Dec 9, at about 4.30pm. However, heavy rain ensued in the night and they were forced to anchor the boat due to the high waves.
Unfortunately, the rope tied to the anchor broke and they four decided to sail back to Labuan at about 6am the next day. But they experienced engine issue and their boat went adrift until they were found at 6.50pm by the rescue team.
Effort to bring the boat back to the Labuan MMEA jetty failed as it was sunk by huge waves.