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MALACCA: A Mexican and Portugese national were rescued by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (APMM) when their sailboat almost sank off Pulau Undan here, today.
Malacca and Negri Sembilan MMEA director Capt Amran Daud said the agency received a call through the Lumut Marine Surveillance System which alerted the distress signal from the boat located at 0.1 nautical miles from Pulau Undan at 3.35am.
He said the two sailors, Terence Lam, 67, of Portugal and Mexican Salmeron Malagon Jorge Alfredo, 50, however, were able to leave the sailboat using a smaller boat.
“The sailboat they were on had almost sunken, believed to be due to leakage after the boat’s hull hit an object at sea, however, both were unharmed, and were taken to the MMEA Jetty in Kuala Linggi,“ he said in a statement here, today.
He said the two had left Langkawi on March 3 and were on their way to Batam before heading to Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, in JOHOR, MMEA personnel detained a tanker about 4.5 nautical miles southeast of Tanjung Piai, near Pontian, yesterday, for anchoring without permission from the Malaysian Marine Department.
Johor MMEA director First Admiral Aminuddin Abdul Rashid said the agency’s patrol boat came across the vessel, at about 1.30pm.
“Checks revealed that the ship was registered in Micronesia, with one skipper and seven crew members from Indonesia aged between 24 and 45.
“However, when the inspection was conducted, there were only four crew including the skipper, while another four were said to have returned to Indonesia,“ he said in a statement here today.
Aminuddin said the ship was taken to the Johor Maritime jetty for further investigation under the Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1952, while the four individuals were taken to the Johor Maritime Office to have their statements recorded. — Bernama
