JOHOR BARU, June 23 — The body of a barter trade boat crew member, who was reported missing yesterday following a storm at the Tanjung Segenting waters near Batu Pahat, has been found today.

Johor Maritime director First Admiral Maritime Aminuddin Abdul Rashid said the body of Sulaiman Ali, 20, was found by fishermen near the Tanjung Laboh waters in Batu Pahat before reporting the matter to authorities to coordinate search and rescue (SAR) operation at about 4pm.

"A maritime asset boat from the Batu Pahat Maritime Zone was dispatched to the location where the body was found, which was about 0.7 nautical miles southeast from where the crew member was believed to have fallen into the sea. The body was taken to the Batu Pahat Maritime Jetty at about 5.45pm,” he said in a statement today.

He added that the body had been handed over the police for further action and the SAR operation was called off at 5.50pm.

In the 4am incident yesterday, the victim, along with two other crew members and a skipper, were sailing from Selat Panjang, Indonesia to Batu Pahat with a load of mangrove logs.

However, the boat took in water when hit by a storm and to save the boat from sinking, the victim, along with the other three, dumped the logs overboard and it was then that the victim was believed to have fallen into the sea. — Bernama