Published: Sunday June 24, 2012 MYT 4:30:00 PM
Updated: Sunday June 24, 2012 MYT 6:09:47 PM
Found - six scuba divers who went missing off Pulau Tioman (Updated)
By ONG HAN SEAN
KUANTAN: Six divers who went missing following a diving trip off Pulau Tioman have been found safe after they spent 21 hours floating at sea.
Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) district enforcement chief Maritime Capt Abdul Aziz Idrus said a local tugboat, Kencana Makmur, located and rescued the divers about 20 nautical miles north of Tulai Island, about 3km from Chebeh Island in Tioman here, Sunday.
The six divers were Yang Jia Xing, 26, Lim Kong Hooi, 27, Leong Li Kar, 26, Maggie Lim, 27 (all Malaysians), Chinese national Xu Zhiming, 33, and Singaporean Hu Jin Jie, 25.
They were found at about 9am.
"Mersing Maritime Base informed our East Region Operation Centre at 4pm Saturday that the divers have not emerged after starting their dive at 12pm Saturday.
"We activated Kuantan's operation centre at 4.30pm and mounted a search and rescue operation. Three of our boats, KM Gemia, Rescue Boat 6 and Flash Boat 14, joined by the Royal Malaysian Navy's KD Pahang and Kuantan Marine Police's PA 52 boat, were deployed," Capt Abdul Aziz told a press conference at the Kuantan MMEA headquarters.
He said the operation was stopped after three hours due to limited visibility during the night.
The team continued the search at 7am Sunday with additional boats from the Navy and the police's diving team before Kencana Makmur found the missing divers two hours later while on its route.
"They were in a seven-people group, and only one of them surfaced at 1.45pm (Saturday).
"A report was then lodged at the Pulau Tioman Marine Park," said Capt Abdul Aziz, adding that the Kuantan district maritime investigation department is looking into the cause of the incident.
- Government to maintain food subsidies
- All eyes on Najib’s new Cabinet
- Hundreds train attention on spreading awareness on AIDS
- Hills in Cameron Highlands ‘raped’ at an alarming rate
- Gunung Perdah ravaged for development and left exposed
- Kedah to freeze logging activities pending review
- Expert: Be very sure you need a mastectomy
- Blind man wants to raise awareness on retinal diseases
- Student activist Adam Adli arrested over his remarks at May 13 forum
- My teacher, my friend
- Tee’s appointment had nothing to do with Umno, says Khaled
- Home garden talk a hit with Malaysians
- Karpal: Abolish the Senate
- Pakatan ceramah held at Esplanade despite police not approving permit
- Selangor exco to be sworn in after MB returns
- Adrian Cheng: updating a Hong Kong family empire for a changing China
- Wall Street Week Ahead: Correction talk gets old as rally sails along
- China April housing inflation quickens to two year high
- EU cites Chinese telecoms Huawei and ZTE for trade violations
- Yahoo to vote on $1.1 billion Tumblr buy: AllThingsD
- Dow, S&P end at records, stocks mark fourth week of gains
- CEO: Catcha Media won’t be taken private - for now
- Sarawak politically-linked stocks rally
- Jala: GST could add up to RM27b to country’s income
- Analysts say UMW Holdings’ O&G offering was widely anticipated
- Matrix Concepts’ IPO oversubscribed by 11.3 times
- Instacom wins RM200m job?
- SFSS set to be largest shareholder of Bintulu Port
- Northport buys two new quay cranes
- Bursa Malaysia closes on Friday
- The missing link
- Khairy to look into matters after review
- Kevin smashes 400m freestyle national record to take gold
- Rizzua set to be the next big thing to come from Sarawak
- Shahidatun is leaps and bounds ahead of her rivals
- James claims victory over rivals in Shanghai
- Chong Wei continues to stay focused despite all the changes
- Apacs extend Chun Seang’s contract for another year
- Denmark’s Hoyer is new president of the BWF
- Indonesian coach: Individual sponsorship will revive our shuttlers’ fortunes
- Kumar: Pakistani players are livewire of KLHC
- Training for young goalkeepers
- Izwan steers Sapura to third place
- Hafizh struggling with new Kalex bike in Le Mans
- Azlan Shah storms to pole in Sentul with new lap record
- Security guards 'chopped up like meat' at Cheras condo
- Be wary of banking Trojans
- Pakatan ceramah held at Esplanade despite police not approving permit
- US Airways plane makes unusual belly landing at Newark airport
- Retract your statement, Guan Eng urges Zahid
- Hills in Cameron Highlands ‘raped’ at an alarming rate
- Student activist Adam Adli arrested over his remarks at May 13 forum
- Five men assault friend at Johor police station
- Expert: Be very sure you need a mastectomy
- All eyes on Najib’s new Cabinet
- Be wary of banking Trojans
- My home, my school
- Bring back English schools
- Home garden talk a hit with Malaysians
- Security guards 'chopped up like meat' at Cheras condo
- Student activist Adam Adli arrested over his remarks at May 13 forum
- Blind man wants to raise awareness on retinal diseases
- Bring back English schools
- Pakatan ceramah held at Esplanade despite police not approving permit
- Six new Perak exco members sworn in
RSS
