Eight commandos injured in docked boat explosion

MANJUNG: Eight police commandos on a boat were injured when its engine exploded after they tried to start it.

An eyewitness, who was at the jetty, said he was in the toilet when the explosion occurred at 9.30am yesterday.

“I heard a loud explosion. When I came out, I saw some of them in the sea and others lying on other nearby boats.

“All the boats were docked sideby-side, but only one, which is a combat boat, exploded,” said the man, who did not want to be identified.

Eight policemen were injured, one of them seriously.

The eyewitness said that he and other police officers rushed to help.

“Some of them were badly hurt as they were probably standing near the boat’s fuel tank,” he added.

The victims were rushed to the Seri Manjung Hospital while the officer in critical condition was sent to the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital.

The eyewitness said that the vic- tims were from the General Operations Force training centre in Ulu Kinta, Ipoh.

They were in Manjung to attend a course on boat handling.

He added that they came to the base last Thursday and were supposed to finish their course on Feb 24.

Acting Perak police chief DCP Datuk Hasnan Hassan said the explosion was caused by a faulty engine, adding that early investigations showed that it occurred when the officers tried to start the boat.

“There were no explosives aboard the boat at the time.

“The eight officers were undergoing routine training,” he added.

DCP Hasnan said an investigation would be conducted to determine why the engine had blown up.