Cops not ruling out foul play in ferry fire
LANGKAWI: The police are not ruling out foul play in the fire which almost claimed 58 lives on board a Kuala Perlis-bound ferry.
OCPD Supt Mohd Iqbal Ibrahim said a preliminary investigation paper was opened to identify the cause of the incident.
“We are still waiting for a report from the Fire and Rescue Department which will carry out a forensic investigation on the ferry.
“The fire report would determine if there were criminal elements involved in the 2.40pm incident on Monday,” he said.
On the day of the incident, Supt Mohd Iqbal said he received a call from one of the passengers on the ferry about the fire.
“Based on the information, we deployed a marine police team with two boats to assist the passenger ferry travelling from Langkawi to Kuala Perlis.
“The ferry had just left from the jetty at 2.30pm and 10 minutes later the fire started in the engine room.
“All the 58 passengers, including five crew members and the captain, were rescued,” he said.
The victims were taken to the Kuah jetty and two people who experienced shortness of breath due to smoke inhalation were rushed to Hospital Sultanah Maliha.
Most of the passengers later boarded the ferry provided by the office of the Langkawi MP to return to Kuala Perlis.