KOTA KINABALU: State authorities will decide in a report if those involved in the salvaging of three World War II shipwrecks in Sabah’s northern waters have broken any law.

State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said a committee under his ministry would be finalising the report on the salvage operation involving Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and a company, Ugeens Berjaya Sdn Bhd, within a month.

Masidi said that despite a briefing by UMS and Ugeens Berjaya officials last week, he still could not fathom how documentation work of artefacts in the wrecks turned into a salvage operation.

The salvage operation had created an uproar among divers and local fishermen as the wrecks of the three Japanese ships had become coral reefs and were a habitat for various fish species.