STILL WAITING: John Soon, 39, husband of Roslin Jati, 34, one of the capsized ‘Kawan Mas’ express boat tragedy missing victims patiently waiting at Belaga Jetty and hopes for the safety of his wife. Soon said he and wife altogether with their son, Jacky , 5, were on their way home from Sin Yang, Lakin B timber in Bakun camp to his village in Nanga Merit to celebrate Gawai festival when tragedy struck. — Bernama photo
MARKING THE SPOT: The salvage team trying to pull up the buoy which indicates the location where the boat capsized. — Bernama photo
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Everything now in place to refloat capsized express boat, team confident of success
BINTULU: After nine days of futile efforts to refloat the express boat ‘Kawan Mas’ which capsized at the Bungan rapids in the Upper Rajang on May 28, the search and rescue (SAR) team is confident that it can finally salvage the vessel today.
DSP Bakar Sebau who heads the salvage team has good reasons to be optimistic as the two tractors provided by a logging company were already stationed on the banks of the river at the site.
The task for the team today is to attach the cables for winching to the boat and use the tractors to pull it up.
“We will try our level best to do it tomorrow (today). We will leave as early as 7am and reach the site by 7.30 or 7.45am. We will then proceed straight away to carry out the task,” Bakar who is also the Belaga police chief told The Borneo Post through a telephone interview last night.
“Our plan is to winch the capsized boat from the river bed and pull it to the bank.”
The SAR team which comprises some 40 men received an unexpected offer to help in the salvage operation yesterday when four locals who are experienced divers in the turbulent waters of the rapids volunteered their expertise and experience.
“These four men have been salvaging a lot of sunken belian wood in the area before and now they are willing to assist us,” said Bakar.
Meanwhile Belaga district officer Abdul Harim Abdullah when contacted yesterday said the turbulent water at the Bungan rapid again made it too difficult for the salvage team to attach the cables to the boat yesterday.
“As of today (yesterday) our effort to install the cables to the sunken express boat was still in vain. Our divers have tried several times to tie the cables but was not successful, so we will try for another attempt tomorrow,” he said.
Halim who is the head of operation room, said the two tractors that arrived from a logging camp last Tuesday had successfully cleared the path at the left bank of the river at the site.
So far he said the number of survivors remained at 205 passengers, while two are still missing and one body had been found.
Meanwhile, Sarawak Hidro chief executive officer Zulkifle Osman revealed that the Bakun HEP had closed its spillways since the tragedy on May 28.
“We have closed our spillways since the day of tragedy but the current at the site remains swift because it is a rapid,” said Zulkifle.
Meanwhile, Bernama reported the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak as saying in his latest tweet on the tragedy that the Transport Ministry would review the licensing procedures for boats and ferries in rivers in the state to avoid the recurrence of boat tragedies.