Hopes fading
Chances of finding missing Brazilian grow slimmer.
GEORGE TOWN: The chances of finding Brazilian Lucas Bondezan who went missing following a yacht mishap alive is getting slimmer after a second day of search failed to locate him.
The 24-year-old went missing after the RM10mil super yacht he was on sank at 1am on Friday after a fire and explosion on board some 15 nautical miles northwest of Muka Head near here.
The second day of search for him yesterday was fruitless and was called off at 7.30pm after it got dark and will resume at 7am today.
A Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) officer, who declined to be named, said the chances of Bondezan surviving was rather slim after such long hours at sea.
“Good swimmers or people who work at sea usually have better survival skills in water as they could float for days but Bondezan was nowhere to be seen since we launched the search and rescue operation.
“The incident also took place around midnight when it was dark and the explosion had made the situation worse,” he said.
MMEA Northern Region Maritime director First Admiral Tan Kok Kwee said two MMEA vessels (KM Tugau and KM Kimanis), a PA50 marine police boat and two helicopters, one from the MMEA and the other chartered by the yacht owner were involved in the search for Bondezan.
He said the search covered a 10-mile radius from the location where the yacht had sank.
“We will deploy divers to search for Bondezan if necessary,” he said.
He added that the agency believed Bondezan did not go down with the yacht. The search for the Brazilian had resumed at 7am yesterday and persisted despite bad weather.
Tan said it started raining heavily at 8.30am but the search had continued until nightfall at 7.30pm.
He said the investigation into the yacht sinking was conducted by the Marine Department.
Bondezan and three other crew members had left Langkawi in the 31m-long yacht at 7pm on Thursday.
They were bound for Singapore but technical problems in the yacht’s engine room caused a big fire that led to the explosion at midsea some five hours later and the vessel subsequently sank at 1am on Friday.
The other crew members – Serbian Novak Novakovic, 28, Croatian Rudolf Kolic, 61, and Czech Jaroslav Horejsek, 37 – were rescued by a fishing boat whose crew spotted them drifting in a life raft 38 nautical miles from Kuala Kedah at 3.40am the same day.
They were ferried to Kuala Kedah from where they were taken to the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital in Alor Setar for treatment.
All three were discharged the same day.