Six missing anglers found drifting off Pulau Tioman

Kemaman Maritime Zone director Maritime Commander Rashidilhadi Abd Rashid said that after being rescued at 8.30 am, the anglers were taken on a Bot Kilat 49 to Kuantan Jetty for medical checks.

From there, they were sent to the Kemaman Maritime Zone.

"The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (Malaysian Maritime) aircraft AS365N3 Dauphin which was carrying out a search by air detected the anglers’ boat being towed by a local fishing boat around eight nautical miles from Kuala Kuantan.

"They then contacted the Malaysian Maritime boat to immediately go to the location to assist and escort the victims into the Kuantan jetty,” he said in a press conference at the Kuala Kemaman jetty here.

Boat skipper Mohd Hafizol Hisham Zakaria, 29, and five other anglers - Mohamad Shahrul Ainmie Abdullah, 19; Mohd Samerin Suhaimi, 29; Muhammed Hazim Luqman Zakaria, 19; Rosidi Mohamad, 22; and Mohamad Zukarnain Mohamat Nor, 20 - had set out to sea on Monday and were supposed to return the next day.

However, they could not be contacted from Monday afternoon and on Tuesday, their family members reported to the Malaysian Maritime, which then activated a search and rescue operation.

Rashidilhadi said preliminary information showed that their boat was left drifting and swept away by strong currents after its propeller was damaged.

Local fishermen based at the Pahang Fishermen's Association Jetty found them only this morning.

He said further investigations would be conducted to determine the cause of the incident and whether there was any breach of regulations by the boat owner.

“Our initial investigation found that the boat was not licensed to carry people out to sea for recreational fishing,” he added.