Crew of Indonesian cargo vessel rescued by Malaysian ship

CHUKAI: Nine crew of an Indonesian cargo vessel had given up hope and left their fate in God's hands as their ship went sinking.
"We surrendered to Allah and was willing to accept what He has fated on us, dead or alive," said Mara Sofyan Dalimunthe, 43, who is the captain of the ship.
The ship, laden with 147 metric tonne of coconut capsized in the waters off Pulau Kapas today while on its way to Thailand.
"We began to realise there were problems with the ship at about 2am, when water began entering the engine compartment, but could not detect the cause, and the situation was made worst with heavy rain and huge waves.
"We continued to do the necessary repairs, but part of the ship began to sink at 7am and we were lucky when our distress flares were detected by Malaysian vessel Grade One Manjung 1, which then came to rescue us at 8.40am," he said when met by reporters at the Kemaman maritime base here.
The Indonesian ship capsized at 22.5 nautical miles off Kuala Terengganu. — Bernama