MMEA: Two missing KM Avatar crew found, one dead

MELAKA: Two crew members of the container ship KM Avatar who went missing after the ship sank off Tanjung Kling were found Thursday morning, with one of them dead and the other alive.

The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency's Negri Sembilan/Melaka director Maritime Capt Ahmad Faridi Ferdaus said the duo were found 11.8 nautical miles from Tanjung Kling here at 9.40am by a search and rescue team.

He said the survivor was the ship's chef, known as Hermawan, 35, while the victim who died was ship captain Samuel Andianto Henuk, 52.

"The search and rescue team found a crew member alive in a life raft, and another who had died was found in the sea near the location" he told reporters.

Capt Ahmad Farid said it was understood that the survivor had swam to the raft left behind by 13 other crew members who were rescued Wednesday.

"Both victims were taken to Hospital Melaka and handed over to the police for further investigation. The search and rescue operation was ended at 2pm today," he said, adding that the victim who survived was still weak and in trauma.

In the 9.25am incident, KM Avatar, a container ship from Indonesia sank, in the Straits of Melaka after it was believed to have been hit by strong waves.

The ship was carrying 15 crew members, and 13 of them were rescued by a merchant ship passing through the area, while two others were reported missing. - Bernama