Capsized sand-dredger: Two more bodies found as of noon

MUAR: The bodies of a woman and a man, believed to be victims of the capsized sand-dredger which suffered its fate on Wednesday, were found inside the vessel and near the ship as at around noon.
Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) Southern Region Maritime Operation deputy director Maritime Captain Sanifah Yusof said the body of the woman was found in a cabin while the man was found far away the ship.
"The dead woman is probably a Chinese national but we have to wait for the identification process to confirm the identity of the two victims," he told reporters at the Search and Rescue (SAR) guard post in Pantai Leka, here today.
The remains of the man was found in the waters of Parit Haji Baki about 9.7 km from Parit Jawa.
Currently, the SAR operation has found nine suspected victims and rescued five.
The search and rescue operation for the missing crew of dredger JBB Rong Chang 8 has been extended to 190 nautical miles from the location of the ill-fated ship.
The SAR operation which entered the fourth day today involved 70 divers from the MMEA, the Royal Malaysian Navy, as well as professional divers engaged by the ship's company.
The 24-hour SAR operation is continuing with 90% of the ship underwater, while helicopters were deployed to monitor the water surface around the ship.
"We believe they could still be rescued and we expanding the search area as several bodies were outside of the ship's location," he said when asked on the probability of finding the missing victims away from incident location.
"Divers are still searching in the compartment section of the vessel to make sure there were no one else in the section," he added.
Meanwhile, Muar health officer Dr Noorhaida Ujang said the two victims who had been rescued yesterday have been moved to a normal ward.
"Both victims did not sustain any injuries, they were just weak after having not eaten in two days," she said.
The five rescued victims have been identified as Liang Puzeng, Jiang Chunlin, Liu Konggan, Liang Rongbin and Wu Liangfu.
In the incident at 7.50am on Wednesday, 14 crew members of the sand-dredger were reported trapped, while four were rescued by SAR teams and one was found drowned on the day itself. — Bernama