Two sunken boats possibly managed by same agent

The two boats which sank in the waters off Sungai Air Hitam, Pulau Carey and the waters off Sepang over the last couple of days could have been managed by the same agent.

Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) operations director, Maritime Captain Hamid Mohd Amin said this was because the incidents occurred within a matter of hours and using the same route to Tanjung Balai, Indonesia.

"However, we are still investigating the possibility because the victims do not know the people handling their travels and only communicated via the cellphones. Their phones have gone missing during the incidents," he told a media conference at the MMEA headquarters in Klang yesterday.

In the incident at Beacon Api Gila, in the waters off Sepang, nine foreigners believed to be Indonesians are feared drowned while 18 others were rescued when their boat overturned at 5am on Wednesday.

Several hours prior to that, a boat ferrying 97 Indonesians sank in the waters off Sungai Air Hitam, Pulau Carey. The incident occurred at 12.30am.