MUAR, March 22 — Two divers from the search and rescue team (SAR) succeeded in entering the capsized Chinese sand-dredger JBB Rong Chang 8 at 4.30pm today.
Southern Region Maritime Director, First Admiral Datuk Abu Bakar Idris said the move to bring in the divers through the back-door of the ship’s engine room was carried out after the SAR team succeeded in bringing the ship to a shallow area located about three nautical miles from the coast.
“We have also installed a closed-circuit TV (CCTV) in the ship monitor the situation from time to time until all the victims have been taken out of the ship,” he told reporters at the location at the Pantai Leka SAR Control Post, near here today.
SAR team handling the case found that there were still sounds of knocking coming from crew trapped inside the vessel.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency director-general Vice Admiral Datuk Zulkifili Abu Bakar said this was based on the latest report he received today.
“We believe that there are surviving crew members in the ship’s engine room located at the centre of the ship, but we cannot ascertain how many or who the survivors are so far,” he told reporters.
Yesterday, one of the crewmen was found drowned and three others were rescued, leaving 14 unaccounted for.
He said the mission to rescue the remaining crew members would be carried out soon after phase one of the operation which was to drag the vessel to a shallower location.
“We need to bring the vessel to a shallower place to ensure that the ship is stable and sits on the ground before sending in the divers for rescue purposes,” he said, adding that an analysis would be done before taking the next course of action.
Zulkifili said MMEA had to ensure that the vessel was in a safe and stable condition, so as not to endanger the lives of the victims and personnel involved in the operation.
He said vessel had currently been moved three nautical miles from where it had capsized, and expressed hope that phase one of the mission was successful.
“The success of one-phase of the operation is important, because those who are trapped (inside the vessel) need air to breathe, and the air inside is limited.
He said if one phase of the operation failed, the SAR team had a second option of cutting part of the vessel’s pole to stabilise it before sending in the divers.
Zulkifili said the third option was to cut a hole in the capsized ship.
“Right now, we cannot proceed cutting a hole in the vessel to remove the victims, as there are two risks involved, the first is that fire needs to be used to cut the hole, and if the fire catches on and spreads, it could endanger the victims who are in the engine room.
“The second risk is that if we puncture the vessel, it will cause air form inside to come out, thus affecting its buoyancy.
“When that happens, we can no longer control water entering the vessel, causing it to sink,” he said. — Bernama
