Malaysians missing in Pulau Aur waters found safe

The 12 Malaysians including 10 anglers who had gone out to sea on Tuesday (May 17) and were believed to be missing in Pulau Aur waters, off Mersing were all found safe this evening.

Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency Southern Region Deputy Director (Operations) Maritime Captain Saiful Lizan Ibrahim berkata said their boat was detected about 25 nautical miles southeast of Tanjung Sedili, near Kota Tinggi.

"All on board were also reported safe and following that, MMEA mobilised its assets to rescue them and tow their boat to the Tanjung Sedili jetty.

"The boat was located at 6.15pm by MMEA's air assets," he said in a statement.

Earlier, Kota Tinggi OCPD Supt Rahmat Othman had identfied nine of the missing as Roslan Husin, 34, (skipper); anglers - Mohd Firdaus Jalil (age not known), Mansor Ibrahim, 63, Syaril Mohamad, 33, Muhamad Arham Salim, 24, Emran Firdaus Mohd Said, 30, Abd Rashid Saian, 44, Mohd Zaini Mohd Dekan, 50, and Tan Seng Foo, 55.

The identity of three others are still not known.

He said, a report on their disappearance was lodged by Roslan's wife at about 6.30pm yesterday (May 20) after she could not contact her husband who should have returned two days ago on Thursday (May 19).

"The complainant lodged a police report because she was aware of the rough sea conditions and worried about the safety of her husband and the others," he said in a statement here today.

Rahmat said added that five more police reports had been lodged by the families of the missing anglers at Kuala Sedili Police Station, Kota Tinggi.

Following the reports, a search and rescue operation was mounted involving various agencies including the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), the marine police and the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) at 7.30am today.

Rahmat said, the waters of Pulau Aur, was about four nautical miles from Pulau Jemaja, Indonesia.