Seven fishermen rescued, two missing

KOTA KINABALU: The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) has rescued seven crew members of a fishing boat which was stranded in the waters off Sabah's west coast for almost a week.

However, Kota Kinabalu MMEA director First Admiral (Maritime) Adam Aziz said the search and rescue (SAR) operations for two missing crew were still ongoing. They are identified as boat owner Inam @ Damas Tampas and crew member Moso.

“On Dec 17, nine people, aged between 28 and 52, were believed to have boarded a boat bearing registration number PR 2054/2/ F from the Gaya Island to the Mengalum Island for fishing. However, the boat experienced engine failure after arriving near the Mengalum Island.

“The next day, the boat owner, identified as Iman @ Dimas Tampas, and two other crew members – Noradin Majuki and Moso – had used a ‘sampan' (small boat) for help but it capsized about 40km away from the fishing boat,” he told a press conference yesterday.

Adam said the incident occurred when the three fishermen were paddling towards the Gaya Island.

Prior to that, they attempted to approach one of the oil rigs near the Mengalum Island in which the offshore workers had offered help but failed in their bid due to being hit by strong waves, he said.

Adam said MMEA received the distress call from the MV Nur Amanah vessel, about 11 nautical miles off the Mengalum Island, at 10.45 am on Wednesday.

According to him, Noradin was rescued by the MMEA about 2.40pm on Thursday at approximately five nautical miles off the Mantanani Island and was later taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital here.

“The fishing boat was adrift for about five days (since Dec 17). The six crew on board decided to swim for approximately 11 hours to the Mantanani Island using life vests before they asked for help from the islanders,” he said.

Adam said the villagers then alerted the MMEA before the agency deployed its KM Berani vessel at 8pm on Thursday to take the fishermen to the MMEA jetty in Sepanggar.

Meanwhile, boat skipper Abdul Si Misil, 52, said their initial plan was to be at the sea for fishing until this Sunday before the boat experienced the engine failure.

“However, we ran out of food supply since last Wednesday because most of our supply had fallen into the sea as our boat was hit by the big waves.

“We leave it to Allah if we are fated to die over there but Alhamdulillah (praise be to Allah), we are still given a second chance,” said the man who was overcome by emotion.

"After our boat had broken down, three of my friends, Iman, Nordin and Moso took off on a boat without an engine to seek help from surrounding fishermen on December 20," Abdul told reporters.

The three crew members subsequently stumbled upon two oil rig boats. Unfortunately, the two boats were unable to help them due to bad weather and the former proceeded to notify the MMEA instead.

They then decided to paddle their boats to Pulau Gaya to seek further assistance.

"However, about 40 meters from the location of our fishing boat, the boat that had carried my three friends were swept by waves and the other crew members and I could not do anything about it due to the horrific weather conditions," Abdul said.

The main fishing boat then started to drift slowly in the waters for five days until it approached Pulau Mantanani Kecil on Thursday.

"We then decided to swim to Pulau Mantanani with the aid of life jackets. It took us almost ten hours for us to reach the said island and to subsequently acquire assistance from the villagers there," he said.

"We did not manage to eat during the third day as the rice that we had cooked was swept away by the strong waves. We had to survive for two days without food and water," he added.

This was Abdul's only third fishing trip, one that he could never expect to end in such a dramatic way.