Search for missing six in catamaran capsize also covers Sarawak waters

About 750 sq nautical miles of waters off Miri are part of the 3,900 sq nautical miles of sea where about 20 vessels and aircraft are engaged in the search that has entered its sixth day today.

Giving the breakdown of the vessels and aircraft engaged in the search, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency Kota Kinabalu director First Admiral (Maritime) Adam Aziz said today the MMEA had deployed four ships, a boat and an aircraft.

READ: Sabah catamaran tragedy: Six still missing

The Royal Malaysian Air Force had deployed an aircraft; the Royal Malaysian Navy, an aircraft, two ships and two boats; the Marine Police, four boats and the Royal Malaysian Police, two aircraft, he said at a briefing for reporters at the MMEA operations centre in Likas.

He also said that Brunei Darussalam had deployed a ship and an aircraft to conduct a search in its waters.

The catamaran, with the 28 Chinese tourists and three crew, capsized at about 10am on Saturday after being hit by strong winds and high waves an hour after having left the Tanjung Aru jetty here for Pulau Mengalum, 56km northwest of Kota Kinabalu.

Twenty of the tourists and two crew were rescued and three tourists were found dead, leaving five tourists and a crew missing.

Adam said the search by the vessels went on round-the-clock while the aircraft left for the area of search at about 7.30am.

Asked about a request from the Chinese embassy that a search be conducted also on the sea floor, Adam said it could be done once the location of the capsized boat had been ascertained.

He said that though there were witness accounts that the boat went down about eight nautical miles from Pulau Mengalum, the possibility of the vessel having been dragged by the currents to another location could not be ruled out.