KOTA KINABALU: There are few signs as to what could have happened to the two Chinese tourists who went missing from Mantanani Island off Kota Belud over five days ago.
Fan Qin, 28, and Yu XiaoPeng, 25, were said to have been snorkelling before they went missing.
A pair of spectacles believed to belong to one of them was found by the beach in the northern part of the island, leading search and rescue (SAR) workers to focus their initial search on that area before expanding the radius.
According to Kota Belud police, the operation involving 80 personnel from various agencies was now focused on the western part of the island, including Tanjung Batu, the beaches of Mantanani Besar and Mantanani Kecil, out to Pulau Kelambu and Tanjung Simpang Mengayau.
Other than a ground and sea search, security forces are also using helicopters to get a sighting of the victims in Kota Belud waters, from Mantanani up to northern Kudat.
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Firemen said that the dive team was anchoring its search on coral and reef areas, among others.
Earlier, it was reported that the duo had checked into the resort on Saturday (Oct 4) and were supposed to check out the next day.
However, when resort employees went to their room after the guests had exceeded the checkout time, they found the duo’s belongings still inside.
The SAR operation entered its sixth day on Friday (Oct 10).
