KOTA TINGGI, Dec 18 ― The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) is working with Indonesia and Singapore to track down the remaining missing victims of the boat capsize in Tanjung Balau here on Wednesday.
Johor MMEA deputy director (Operations) Maritime Captain Simon Templer Lo Ak Tusa said the Putrajaya Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) had informed the search centres of the two countries besides using the navigational telex (NAVTEX) method.
“It has become a standard operating procedure (SOP) for us to inform neighboring countries if there are incidents at sea.
“So with this cooperation, they can provide information to us and communicate directly if there are new findings,” he told reporters at the Carilamat Forward Base in Tanjung Balau here today.
He said this when asked to comment on whether the Malaysian maritime authority had established cooperation with neighbouring countries to track down the 16 victims who are still missing.
Meanwhile, Simon said as of 3pm today, no new findings had been recorded.
He said according to SOPs, search and rescue (SAR) operations would be conducted for four days and in some cases, could reach up to 10 days.
“If the SAR is stopped, the search operation will continue but not in an integrated manner and more focused on the respective agencies,” he said.
Simon said the weather conditions today which were unpredictable with rain, big waves and limited visibility, made the mission difficult.
“As a result, the air search can only be done using one asset from Maritime Malaysia only, compared to the initial plan involving three aircraft from three agencies,” he said.
He said the SAR search radius using aircraft today, was expanded to 76.5 square nautical miles while the search at sea was 106.02 square nautical miles.
The number of victims drowned in the boat capsize remains at 21 people, with 13 rescued and more than 16 still feared missing. ― Bernama
