SIBU (Jan 8): Rescuers today identified the location of a car that plunged into the river near the Tanjung Kunyit ferry point in Sungai Maaw here.
The Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) operations centre in a statement said the search and rescue (SAR) operation, which entered its second day today, started at 7am and involved 16 firemen, including 11 divers from the Sungai Merah station, and 12 policemen including two personnel from the K9 unit.
They were assisted by three Civil Defence Force personnel, five Marine police personnel, three Sarawak Rivers Board personnel and six family members of the victims.
“A total of seven boats were used in the operation, where the surface searching method was conducted on one to two kilometres of water area.
“At 10.08am, high tides and strong currents prevented rescuers from conducting a search. At 1.24pm, the operations commander reported a receding water trend and the diving unit conducted a search using the grappling iron technique.
“The diving team conducted their first dive at 2.42pm and subsequently, identified the car’s location on their fifth dive at 3.49pm,” it said.
It added rescuers were waiting for a crane to retrieve the car.
Yesterday, Sibu police chief ACP Zulkipli Suhaili confirmed that a man and a woman are missing after the car they were travelling in with another person plunged into the river at Tanjung Kunyit Ferry Jetty at Sungai Maaw here on Friday night.
He said the police received a report from a 39-year-old local man at 2.03am yesterday, saying that he had received a phone call from his cousin who said the car he was travelling in, which had two other passengers, had plunged into the river.
One of the missing victims is identified as Philip Yinn Chung Leong, 61. The woman whose identity is not yet known is believed to be in her 40s.