Three barter trade boats capsize in bad weather near Pontian, all crew safe

Three barter trade boats capsized with one nearly sinking due to bad weather in the waters off Pulau Pisang, near Pontian, yesterday morning.

However, all 27 crew members of the three boats survived, said Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) Johor director First Maritime Admiral Nurul Hizam Zakaria.

He said MMEA activated a search and rescue (SAR) operation at 11.30 am after receiving an emergency call from the agent of the company that owned the three barter trade boats who informed that the three vessels - KLM Budiman, KLM Alam Makmur and KLM Firman Jaya 3 - were in distress.

"At 12.27 pm, Maritime Rescue Sub Centre (MRSC) Johor Bahru received information from the ships' agent informing that KLM Budiman had been found and almost sinking 8.1 nautical miles off Tanjung Laboh by a cargo ship that was nearby. However, 10 of its crew survived.

"Half an hour later, MRSC Johor Bahru received information from the Southern Region Marine Department on the discovery of seven KLM Alam Makmur crew by a sand barge 7.4 nautical miles southwest of Pulau Pisang. The boat was reported to have capsized at an unknown location suspected due to bad weather, " he said in a statement today.

At 3.45 pm, MMEA received information that 10 KLM Firman Jaya 3 crew were rescued by a barter trade boat that was nearby and were brought to Tanjung Balai, Indonesia.

"KLM Firman Jaya 3 had also capsized at an unknown location following bad weather. However, all the Indonesian crew from the three boats were rescued," added Nurul Hizam.

He said the SAR operation was terminated at 5.30 pm yesterday.

-- BERNAMA