Missing man found using drone tech

The search-and-rescue team helping the gas pipeline worker who had earlier gone missing in Baram district.

MIRI: A gas pipeline worker, who went missing in the dense jungles of remote Baram district in northern Sarawak, has been found and rescued through the use of drone technology.

The worker, Douglas Tibi, went missing along a hillslope near Long Jegan settlement on Friday evening.

He was rescued on Sunday and brought safely to the Long Lama Clinic late in the afternoon.

He suffered a fractured leg because of a fall, said a Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department representative.

Search team leader Terry Robson said a drone was used to help locate the missing man swiftly.

“The worker was carrying out inspection work along the Sabah-Sarawak gas pipeline route in the jungles near Long Jegan (five hours from Miri) when he went missing.

“He was with a team of workers along a 4km-long section of the pipeline at a slope.

“The other workers reported that he went missing on Friday and on Saturday, Miri Fire and Rescue Department deployed a search-and-rescue team to the site, ” he added.

Robson said the worker was found through the use of Petronas’ drones, about 2km away from where he was last spotted.

The search-and-rescue team then transported him to the Long Lama Clinic.

The 600km Sabah-Sarawak gas pipeline project owned by Petronas channels gas from Sabah to the Bintulu Port in northern Sarawak for processing and export.