Body of boat capsize victim found near Gurney Drive

GEORGE TOWN: The body of 62-year-old boat capsize victim Rosmin Selamat was found some 35 hours after the tragedy.

Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency’s Penang deputy director Commander Azman Samsudin said the victim was found by the public in the waters near Gurney Drive on Sunday. 

“The search-and-rescue operation started at 7.30am and the body was found at 8.04am. 

“The body has been surrendered to the police for further action,” he said in a statement Sunday. 

The Penang Fire and Rescue Department said in a statement that the victim’s body was found some 600m to 800m behind a hotel in Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah.  

“The remains were sent to the marine police jetty in Batu Uban and search-and-rescue operation was called off at 9.19am,” it said.  

Rosmin, from Manjung, Perak, was among a group of seven quarry workers travelling on the boat from the Batu Uban Jetty on the south-eastern coast of the island to Tanjong Tokong on the northern coast when the vessel capsized after being hit by strong waves near its destination on Friday night.  

One of the other six occupants, aged from 26 to the mid-60s, swam to shore while five others were rescued by a passing fishing boat. Rosmin was holding on to one of the survivors who had clung on to floating objects but he let go after a while and went missing.