Grim find: The missing bodies of Gan and his wife being brought to shore after they were found floating 200m from each other. — CHAN TAK KONG/The Star
KLANG: Chan Pei Pei, 60, was overcome by grief when she identified the remains of her son Gan Hon Tat at the Forensic Unit of Hospital Shah Alam.
The bodies of Gan, 32, and his wife, Careen Man, 29, were found floating 200m from each other yesterday following a boat mishap off Tanjung Harapan.
A weeping Chan was escorted out of the autopsy room by her husband before being calmed down by family members, according to Bernama.
The couple from Klang Utama were among six victims involved in a boat capsizing incident that took place on Friday evening, approximately 0.3 nautical miles west of Tanjung Harapan.
Selangor Malaysian Maritime Authority Agency and Excise Unit operations officer Lieutenant Mohd Syafiq Sazali said the bodies were found adrift by two separate teams at 7.45am yesterday.
“Maritime vessel KM Danga recovered the woman’s body, while the Fire and Rescue Department deployed its assets and successfully retrieved the body of a man,” he told reporters at the Selangor Maritime Jetty.
The search operation, comprising 50 personnel from the police, Fire and Rescue Department and Civil Defence Force, ended at about 9.50am.
Mohd Syafiq reminded those going out to sea to always prioritise safety.
“Always wear a life jacket when engaging in any water activity.”
Mohd Syafiq also said an operation to float the ill-fated boat was carried out on Saturday afternoon.
“Divers from several agencies were deployed to search the vessel for victims and to also make sure that it was safe for the vessel to be floated,” he said.
The boat was floated at about 4.15pm before it was towed to the Royal Selangor Yacht Club for further investigations.
Earlier, several individuals, believed to be family members of the deceased couple, were seen waiting at the jetty for the recovery of their bodies.
One of them could not hold back tears as the couple’s remains were brought ashore and transported at about 8.50am to the forensic unit of Hospital Shah Alam for a postmortem.
The remains of the couple’s son, three-year-old Darren Gan, as well as Cheu Son Hin, 50, and Fong Yong Sen, 29, were found in the boat on Saturday. Seventeen-year-old Alvin Chang Yan Qin was the sole survivor.
