25 rescued from missing tourist boat in Malaysia but six still missing

Twenty five tourists were rescued Sunday after spending more than a day drifting in Malaysian waters after their boat sank, officials said.


Six of the 31 people on board are still missing, Shahidan Kassim, a minister in the prime minister's department said.

The boat left the capital of Malaysia's eastern Sabah state, at about 9 am local time on Saturday.

The boat, which was carrying 28 people from China, a skipper and two crew members, sailed out from Tanjung Aru to the popular tourist spot of Pulau Mengalum island, about 60km west of Kota Kinabalu, at 9am yesterday. It was reported as missing at 9.50pm when it failed to arrive.

The boat's captain and a crew member were spotted by a military plane and rescued, Shahidan said.

Fishermen later rescued a group of 10 people and another group of eight, while a tugboat found a group of five, he said.

Shahidan said search efforts will be intensified, including using surveillance planes that see in the dark.

Twenty-three of the recovered are Chinese as are five of the six still missing, Sabah Police Commissioner Ramli Din tweeted.
  [itv.com]
29/1/17
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