Posted on March 26, 2018
By Ben Tan, malaymail online
Searchers for the remaining nine crew members of a Chinese sand dredger that capsized off the coast of Johor last Wednesday stopped their underwater hunt this past weekend.
Instead, the rescuers are focusing their efforts on some 360 nautical miles of sea surface on the Melaka Strait, around the site of the capsized JBB Rong Chang 8, 12 nautical miles west of Tanjung Tohor as the search enters Day Five.
“The diving activity was stopped after the underwater search to all parts of the ship was done and there were no signs of survivors,” Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency Southern Region Maritime Operations deputy director Maritime Captain Sanifah Yusof told reporters here.
Five of the mostly Chinese 18-man crew have been found alive after their vessel overturned on March 21 and have been sent for treatment at the Sultanah Fatimah Specialist Hospital here.
The bodies of four others have been retrieved; two have been identified and the other two are pending confirmation from family members.
One of the 18 crew members is Malaysian and one other is Indonesia.
Sand dredging is a dangerous but lucrative business and is high in demand in rich but land-scarce areas like Singapore. It is used for reclamation and construction works.
Source: malaymail online
