JOHOR BARU: The bodies of two Indonesian men were found floating by a cargo vessel worker in the waters of the Abu Bakar Maritime Base, Batuan Tengah, near Kota Tinggi, yesterday.
Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) Johor director First Admiral (Maritime) Aminuddin Abdul Rashid said the victims were identified as Rivaldi S Milandi, 22, and Boby, 21, from Benkong, Batam, who worked for a speed boat services company.
“The Johor Baru Marine Rescue Sub-Centre (MRSC) received information from the Indonesian search-and-rescue agency (Basarnas) at 11.40 this morning that a vessel KLM Mitra Sejati discovered two bodies strapped in a lifejacket each floating about four nautical miles southwest of the base in Batuan Tengah at 11am.
“They are believed to be the two individuals seen floating in the waters by a worker from another vessel, Black Forest, at about 2.5 nautical miles in the same location at 8.40am on Aug 30.
“The bodies were later brought to Batam jetty and handed over to Indonesian Marine Police for further action,” he said in a statement here today.
Prior to this, the Black Forest vessel could not recover the bodies due to the busy traffic conditions and the risk involved, he said, adding that the MMEA search and rescue operation ended at about 12.15pm today.
The search was done in an area of 140 square nautical miles from the waters of Tompoh Utara, Batuan Tengah until Tanjung Penyusup. — Bernama
