The fishing boat that was towed back to the Sarawak Boat Club’s jetty at 1.40am this morning. Photo by MMEA
KUCHING (June 26): A group of anglers were lucky to have escaped without any injuries after the boat they were on sprung a leak some 14 nautical miles northwest of Pulau Satang around 7pm last night.
After realising the leak, the anglers together with the boat’s captain and one crew member tried to control the leak with pieces of clothing and sponges from a mattress.
“The fishing boat was found by two police marine boats around 12am. They were then escorted back to the Sarawak Boat Club jetty where they safely arrived at 1.40am,” said Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) Sarawak director First Admiral Zin Azman Md Yunus in a statement today.
He added that MMEA also despatched their own vessel at 8pm and faced difficulties to locate the fishing boat due to choppy waters and wind speed of between 10 and 20 kilometres per hour.
According to MMEA, the boat left the Sarawak Boat Club’s jetty at 1pm for recreational fishing at the waters in Lundu carrying with it 10 anglers.
“According to the fishing boat’s captain, the weather suddenly changed for the worst and the boat was hit by waves which reached up to three metres,” said Zin Azman.
He added that the cause of the leak which started on the lower right side of the boat cannot be determined.
The whole search and rescue operation was called-off at 1.40am after ensuring that all of the 12 victims were safe.
Any maritime emergencies call can be made to the MMEA Sarawak hotline at 082-432544/ 432016.