Search for missing victims of capsized boat stopped

JOHOR BARU: The search and rescue (SAR) operation to find the missing victims of the boat which capsized in the waters off Kota Tinggi last Monday, has been stopped.
Johor Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) deputy director of operations, Capt Sanifah Yusof said the agency decided to call off the operation at 7.30pm yesterday as there were no new leads and a slim chance of finding the victims.
The SAR operation was immediately launched after the boat carrying 44 passengers from Indonesia capsized on July 2.
"Twenty four men and a woman were rescued, while seven men and four women were found dead. The remaining eight had not been found," he said in a statement today.
He said all the 44 victims were illegal immigrants aged between 20 and 40 years.
Sanifah said that although the operation had stopped, regular patrols would be carried out in the area as usual and the operation could be relaunched if there were any new leads.
The operation, he said, had covered an area of 900 nautical miles from around the coast at Tanjung Penyusup, Kota Tinggi to Pulau Besar, Mersing, and involved 150 personnel from various agencies including the Fire and Rescue Department, Marine Police Force, Royal Malaysian Navy, Malaysian Army and the Civil Defence Force. — Bernama