MELAKA: Melaka police are waiting for an update from their Selangor counterparts if the body discovered along the shoreline of Tanjung Sepat in Banting was that of the missing army commando.
Melaka Tengah OCPD Asst Comm Christopher Patit said the body had yet to be identified but there was a strong indication that it was the remains of L/Kpl Edrin Baintim, 25.
Edrin was believed to have gone missing along with his diving gear while on combat diving training about 0.7 nautical miles from Pulau Undan coastline here on Feb 7.
The search and rescue operation (SAR) was activated on the same day (Feb 7) at 5.15pm.
ACP Christopher Patit said the body was now at Banting Hospital for post-mortem and identification.
"We have yet to receive the full information on the discovery made on Sunday (Feb 19)," he said.
The SAR was temporarily suspended on Feb 13 when no clues were found on the missing commando.
Various efforts had been made to find the missing soldier with survey teams from the National Hydrographic Centre (PHN) Operations and Borders Branch using sonar to aid the search.
Divers were also used to conduct searches at depths of more than 40 metres.
The Putrajaya Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre had also requested assistance from Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS), as there was a possibility that the victim had been swept into their waters.
A total of 22 assets have been deployed to the search location, consisting of 18 marine assets and four air assets, with 510 members from various agencies covering a search sector area of 1,400 square kilometres since the SAR launched on Feb 7.
