Environmental NGO: Build airport in Mersing, not Tioman

Pulau Tioman where French tourist Jerome Philippe Laurent found dead on Thursday 4 September 2014.

PETALING JAYA: Rather than building an airport in Tioman that can cause damage to the island's fragile ecosystem, an airport should be built in Mersing instead, says coral reef monitoring group Reef Check Malaysia.

Reef Check Malaysia general manager Julian Hyde said that Tioman is "already suffering" from recent developments, leading to water shortages and damage to coral reefs.