Skipper and crewman arrested over Sabah boat mishap

Twenty Chinese tourists were rescued a short while after the skipper and a crewman of the catamaran were found near Pulau Tiga. - NORMIMIE DIUN / The Star

KOTA KINABALU: The skipper and a crewman of the ill-fated catamaran that sank while on a journey to Pulau Mengalum on Saturday have been detained.

Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Ramli Din said both men had been held under Section 304A of the Penal Code for causing death by negligence.

He said in a Twitter posting that the two men were being held to assist police in their investigations into the incident.

The 26-year-old skipper and 38-year-old crewman were the first to be picked up from waters near Pulau Tiga early Sunday.

They were subsequently taken back to Kota Kinabalu and brought to the district police station here.

The catamaran with 31 people on board – comprising 28 Chinese nationals and three crew members – sank at about 10am on Saturday after departing the Tanjung Aru jetty an hour earlier.

A search effort began immediately after the company operating the vessel reported the incident to authorities some 12 hours after the incident.

Most were rescued on Sunday afternoon. Twenty of the China nationals survived their 32-hour ordeal at sea, while three died.

Another six, including one remaining crewman, were still missing.