Wednesday, October 12, 2016
By Olivia Miwil
olivia@nst.com.my
KOTA KINABALU: Fishing and passenger boat owners are advised to invest in gadgets that can expedite rescue missions should any untoward incident occur.
Sabah Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency director First Admiral Mohd Zubil Mat Som said authorities took a longer time to search for missing boats, which were not equipped with such gadgets.
He said this had been the case of fishing boat reported missing over the weekend.
"The boat was not equipped with a radio communication system or the Automated Identification System (AIS). Otherwise, we would have found its location and executed the rescue mission earlier."
Zubil was speaking after greeting the three crew members and 10 anglers, who were on board the fishing boat, as they arrived at the Royal Malaysian Navy base in Sepanggar here yesterday.
Their three-day fishing trip around Mantanani and Mengalum waters, which began on Friday had to be 'extended', when the boat experienced engine failure on Saturday.
Zubil said MMEA had to "play back" radar records on Saturday to estimate the boat's last location.
"If the boat had AIS, we would have located it immediately."
The boat was found on Monday at noon about 25 nautical miles northwest of Mantanani island and towed by RMN vessel KD Jerong, to the base.
The Royal Malaysian Air Force and marine police were also involved in the search,
Angler Richard Jimmy. 45, from Papar said the group was quite calm when the boat's engine broke down.
"We saw fire and smokes coming out from the engine when one of the crewmen started it. But none of us thought we would be stranded until today (yesterday)," he said, adding his wife lodged a report when the boat failed to return on Sunday.
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Comments
Post a Comment