MERSING: The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) has deployed a Bombardier aircraft to help the search and rescue (SAR) operation to find the remaining three foreign scuba divers who went missing in the waters of Pulau Tokong Sanggol, near here.
Johor MMEA director First Admiral Nurul Hizam Zakaria said that the department has also alerted the relevant agencies from Indonesia and Singapore, aside from the island community around the Mersing islands.
“The sea SAR operation location has also been expanded to 335 nautical miles (620km), while the aerial SAR is expanded to 739 nautical miles (1,368km).
“We have also deployed our Bombardier aircraft, which are better able to endure long-distance flights, aside from our helicopter, the police helicopter, and one aircraft from the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF).
“We have also informed the authorities from neighbouring countries aside from the notice issued by the Marine Department to share any information on sightings of the three survivors,” he said during a press conference at the SAR operations centre here on Friday (April 8).
Asked whether MMEA was open to any offer from any other foreign countries to help with the SAR operation, Nurul Hizam said that he would welcome the offer depending on clearence from the government.
Meanwhile, Mersing OCPD Supt Cyril Edward Nuing said that the operation on Friday started at 3am following the high tide to ensure all sea assets were able to move out smoothly.
He added that the total manpower involved on Firday had also increased to 14 officers and 45 personnel from various agencies that are led by the police.
"As of 10.30am Friday, we had not received any new information or sightings of the three survivors, and we remain optimistic that we will be able to safely recover all three of them.
“This is based on the information that we have regarding their intact dive equipment, and we also hope that Thursday's rain gave them enough water supply to survive,” he said.
Earlier, one of the four European divers who went missing, dive master Kristine Grodem, 35, from Norway, had been rescued some 20 hours after a SAR mission was launched and about 55km away from the dive site.
Grodem was found floating, complete with her diving suit and equipment, by a tugboat heading to Thailand from Indonesia on Thursday (April 7) at 8.15am.
The current SAR is to locate the missing trio - British national Adrian Peter, 46; his 14-year-old son Nathen Renze, who is a Dutch national; and French woman Alexia Alexandra, 18.
The four were last seen on Pulau Tokong Sanggol before a scuba diving exercise near the island, which is nine nautical miles (16km) from the Johor mainland.
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