KOTA KINABALU, Jan 30 — Twenty Chinese tourists were escorted back here safely after a 32 hour ordeal at sea, but the good news is marred by the possibility of another death in the boat mishap here this weekend.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said that the 20 rescued tourists who were brought back to the state capital appeared exhausted but sustained no serious injuries beyond sun exposure.

They were travelling here on the fishing trawler that had found them yesterday evening and escorted by security forces is a separate vessel.

"They seemed weak but are otherwise well. They were shivering and sunburnt but otherwise ok.

"However, one of the survivors told me that one of the six missing tourists has died. She may have spotted the body. But I cannot confirm this, of course. We will try to find all of them first,” he said.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said that the rescued tourists were in good health albeit shaken and exhausted from their ordeal. Picture taken January 30, 2017.

The minister, who had met the survivors on their way to the Kota Kinabalu marine police headquarters jetty said that eight of the survivors were classified as needing medical attention, 12 were in good condition while three were declared dead.

All were sent to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital here for further medical examination.

In the accident on Saturday morning, a boat with 31 people comprising three crew members and 28 China nationals were on their way to Mengalum island about two hours boat ride from here, when their catamaran was damaged by bad weather conditions some eight nautical miles from their destination.

The catamaran eventually capsized and all the passengers were adrift at sea. At press time, 22 people have been rescued, three people — two male and one female — have been confirmed dead while six are still missing.

Two boat crew — Sharezza Salian, 25  and Aman Abdul, 38 were found at about 3.00pm yesterday near Pulau Tiga, some 53km away from its original destination.

Security and health authorities at the Kota Kinabalu marine police headquarters jetty receive the rescued China tourists at about 1.50am January 30, 2017. — Picture by Julia Chan

At about 6pm, 22 Chinese tourists were rescued from waters near Labuan. Six, including one more crew members is still unaccounted for.

Shahidan said that search and rescue operations will be beefed up today, with two helicopters and aircrafts plus a dozen sea vessels from multiple agencies involved in a 400 nautical mile radius.

"We will spare no expenses to search for them and look after the survivors,” he said.

China’s consul general in Sabah Chen Peijie said that the incident had received attention from the highest level of government in her country.

"Even my president has given instructions for us to cooperate with the Malaysian government for this search and rescue. We cannot allow anyone to still be missing — this is the important working focus.

"I am told of the continued overnight search and an expanded area in the morning. We can feel the good effort from the government here in searching for the missing lives,” she said when met at the jetty here early this morning.