KOTA KINABALU, Feb 20 — Authorities confirmed today that a sunken catamaran frame found by fishermen yesterday is from a malfunctioned boat used in a fishing trip last week, dashing earlier speculation that it might have been from the fatal capsize near Mengalum island.

The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) regional director Mohd Zubil Mat Som said the boat frame that was found at about 11am, about 100m from the Membakut beach coast, belonged to Fat Cat Tours, and had malfunctioned two hours into a fishing trip last Monday.

"After receiving information about the find, we sent the Kilat 40 vessel from Labuan to the location.

"Upon investigation and verification, we confirm it is the same boat that malfunctioned and sank on February 13, after we managed to rescue the five crew onboard,” he said.

He said the verification was proven from the GPS photos sent by Kilat 40 and the GPS location of the sunken boat.

The recovered 42-foot boat had gone out on a fishing and island-hopping trip but experienced engine troubles and sent a distress call to Maritime while drifting in the waters some 11 nautical miles west of Sulug Island here.

The nine local anglers onboard were taken back by tourist boats but the crew had stayed behind to try and revive the boat’s engine until they gave up and were rescued at about 7.10pm by MMEA.

Two weeks earlier, a tourist boat carrying 28 Chinese tourists and three local crew members capsized en route to Mengalum island. In the following days, two of the crew members and 20 tourists were saved, while four died and five are still missing.

Aerial view of where the catamaran capsized last month. ― Photo courtesy of MMEA

Authorities are still searching for the missing persons and the boat, which marks its 24th day today.

The search area is now focused on a 300-nautical-square-mile stretch in the waters off Sabah, Miri in Sarawak and Brunei Darusalam.

"The search is being conducted with nine assets [boats and aircraft], including three from the Brunei security agencies,” Mohd Zubil said.