Collision at sea: Body of one victim found, five still missing

The body of one victim out of six crew members who went missing after their tug boat YTC M5 collided with a merchant vessel about 16 nautical miles from Tanjung Gelang here on Thursday, was recovered at 1.40pm today.

Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) Eastern Region enforcement chief, Maritime First Admiral Datuk Nasir Adam said the body of the victim whose identity has yet to be established was found by crew members of MV Sebatik about five nautical miles from where the collision happened.

He said the body was brought to the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) base in Tanjung Gelang before being sent to the Tengku Ampuan Afzan Hospital here for post-mortem.

"Search operations involving MMEA, the Marine Operations Force, RMN and the Marine Department are still continuing," he told Bernama.

One of the crew members of the tug boat, Martin Sembiring, 30, an Indonesian national, survived the collision by jumping into the sea.

He was rescued by a passing fishing boat and subsequently alerted the police on the collision.