KUCHING: Two fishermen were plucked from the sea after strong waves caused their fishing trawler to capsize in the waters off Pulau Lakei here on Wednesday afternoon.
The duo was identified as boat owner Abdul Hadi Bahari, 28, and his deckhand Wahab Draman, 36.
The incident happened at 3.7 nautical miles off Pulau Lakei when their Class A trawler came to a halt after experiencing problems with its main
pump.
While the duo was busy doing repairs on the pump, a succession of large waves struck the trawler and sunk it.
Both men were fortunate enough to grab hold onto separate ice boxes, and clung to their makeshift floatation device as they drifted away from each other.
Abdul Hadi was rescued around 10pm, some seven hours after the incident, by the container ship MTT Pinang, whose sharp-eyed crew spotted him in the water.
Wahab, meanwhile, was rescued near Tanjung Po around 7am yesterday by another passing ship and was in a weak state following his 15-hour ordeal.
State Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) operations director Abdul Razak Lebai Omar said the agency despatched a rescue vessel after being informed of the incident and brought the two fishermen back to MMEA headquarters in Muara Tebas.
“Both men were then sent to the Sarawak General Hospital for treatment and are in stabile condition,” said Abdul Razak in a statement to the media.