KOTA KINABALU: The search is on for a man after his abandoned boat with traces of blood on-board was found listing close to Pulau Buntal in Sandakan.
Identified as Jamil Samson, in his 60s, the boat owner left his house on Thursday for Pulau Buntal and was supposed to return in the afternoon. A villager who found the boat reported to the police.
State Fire and Rescue Department assistant director of operations Hamsa Isnurdini said Jamil had gone out earlier that day to give a villager in Pulau Buntal “traditional treatment”, which is a 15-minute boat ride from where he lives in Kg Semaian.
“However, he did not return and the boat that was used to go to the island was found not far from the island and village at around 6pm,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Hamsa said the person who saw the boat had gone to check and found traces of blood, adding that a search operation was mounted by the authorities after being alerted.
In an unrelated case, a 56-year-old man drowned during a family outing at Kg Karambunai Baru in Tuaran on Thursday.
Hamsa said prior to the incident, Mohd Bustaman Hamma had been swimming in a river.
“Our men used the surface water rescue technique with the aid of tracking dogs from the K9 Unit to find the victim,” he said.
Mohd Bustaman’s body was found by members of the public some 500m from where he was last seen a few hours later.
He was pronounced dead by medical officials on scene, Hamsa said, adding that the body had been handed over to the police.
