The search for two teenagers feared drowned at Pantai Tok Bali here intensified today when the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) started using a helicopter for aerial view with the hope of locating the missing teens.

Its District 10 director, Captain (Maritime) Nurul Hizam Zakaria said efforts to trace the two teens since Sunday through the sea and Tok Bali-Bachok-Besut coastal area conducted day and night had failed.

In the 4.13pm incident, two teenagers identified as Ahmad Haziem Anizam, 14, and his friend, Amir Azfa Rafar, 13, from Selising, here, were feared drowned while bathing at Pantai Tok Bali.

Two of their friends, Muhammad Firdaus Mustafa, 16, of Kampung Taweh in Gaal, and Amir Shahir Zakima, 13, of Kampung Nering, here, managed to swim to safety.

The four went to the beach for a picnic and swim when the incident of big waves occurred.

Nurul Hizam said, starting at 9am this morning, the helicopter made aerial survey within 30 nautical miles to the north and 20 nautical miles to the east of Tok Bali waters.

He said the search operation for the two teenagers had been quite difficult due to the rough sea condition with big waves reaching up to 1.5 metres due to the current monsoon season.

He added that the operation by land and sea was intensified by increasing the number of team members from 140 to almost 200 yesterday and it involved various government departments as well as fishermen.

The assets mobilised in the search operation include a ship, six boats and two jet skis. - BERNAMA