LUMUT: The bodies of three women, believed to be victims of the boat capsize incident involving undocumented Indonesian migrants off Pulau Pangkor on Monday (May 11), have been found.
This brings the total number of bodies found so far to seven, following the discovery of three women and one man earlier on Tuesday (May 12).
Marine Police Region One Operations Command officer Deputy Supt Mazre Che Mahmod said the three bodies were found at 6pm Tuesday by Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) vessel KD Sri Indera Sakti about 20 nautical miles from the scene of the incident.
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"Investigations to determine the identities of the three victims are ongoing,” he said when contacted on Wednesday (May 13).
DSP Mazre said the latest discovery brought the total number of victims found so far to 30, after 23 were rescued on the first day of the search and rescue (SAR) operation on Monday.
"We are still searching for seven more victims. The third day of SAR operations resumed at 7am today, involving the Marine Police, RMN and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA),” he said.
Today’s SAR operation involves two Marine Police boats, three RMN vessels and three MMEA assets, Maritime Vessel (KM) Malawali, Benteng 1203 and a Bombardier CL415MP aircraft from the Subang Air Station.
On Tuesday, Perak MMEA rescued 23 Indonesian migrants after the boat carrying them capsized in the waters off Pulau Pangkor near Lumut the day before.
The boat was reported to be carrying 37 undocumented migrants who were believed to have departed from Kisaran, Indonesia, for Malaysia on Saturday (May 9). – Bernama
