SIBU: Prompt action by the police and Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) personnel saved five fishermen who were drifting in the sea on Saturday when their boat malfunctioned.
The five were from Bintulu, and when they neared Dalat town, their boat engine broke down and the hull started leaking. They frantically tried to pump the water out, but it was futile.
One fisherman than dialled 999 at about 2pm, and his distress call was picked up by the centre in Kuala Lumpur. The rescue team comprising personnel from Mukah and Dalat were quickly assembled and sprang into action.
The five fishermen were later taken to Mukah, but their leaking boat was left behind.
Meanwhile, in an unrelated incident, a man heading home for the Gawai Dayak celebration lost his wallet to a snatcher near the bus terminal here shortly after he arrived in a bus at 9pm on Saturday.
He was drinking at a nearby coffee shop before heading to his longhouse in Sungai Menyan when two men approached him. One of them, while asking for money, snatched the wallet in his sling bag and fled the scene with his accomplice. There was RM100 in the wallet.
The victim then went to lodge a police report.