Body believed to be one of missing victims sent to QE1 Hospital for post-mortem

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Police personnel getting ready to bring the body to the hospital. — Bernama photo

Police personnel getting ready to bring the body to the hospital. — Bernama photo

KOTA KINABALU: The body of a woman, believed be of one of the six victims still missing in the catamaran tragedy last Saturday which was found by fishermen in Pulau Mengalum waters yesterday, has been sent to the Queen Elizabeth 1 Hospital here for post-mortem.

The body was brought to the Marine Operations Force (MOF) jetty here in an MOF boat at 2.15pm.

Awaiting the body were Kota Kinabalu police chief ACP M Chandra, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA)  Kota Kinabalu director, Maritime Commodore Adam Aziz and China’s Consul-General in Sabah, Chen Peiji.

Adam, at a press conference earlier today, had said that the body, in red blouse and black slacks, was found entangled in their net at 9.25am.

The body was found eight nautical miles southwest of Pulau Mengalum and 13 nautical miles northeast of the location where the catamaran capsized and 20 nautical miles northwest of Pulau Tiga.

In the incident at 10am last Saturday, the catamaran which was carrying 28 tourists from China and three crew was believed to have capsized amidst strong winds and huge waves while heading to Pulau Mengalum, 56km northwest of Kota Kinabalu.

To date, 25 victims have been found including three who perished.

Meanwhile, Adam said the post-mortem results were expected to be known at the latest by today

He said identification of the body would be through recognition by family members or DNA matching.

“Based on records obtained, two of the missing were women, Chinese nationals identified as Dong Mei, 52; and Wong Jien Yi, 30. Whether the body is of one of them will be known after the autopsy and identification process,” he said.

He added that the Search and Rescue (SAR) mission for the missing victims, which entered its ninth day today, would focus more on where this body was found.

On the two life jackets found by the SAR team on Tuesday and Wednesday, he said they did not belong to the ill-fated catamaran. — Bernama