The search operation on the third day remains the same as yesterday, with the deployment of a Super Puma helicopter, KN 218 Dumai, and RIB in addition to the RIB and helicopter from Malaysia to search for the missing passengers in their respective waPekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA) - The Malaysian Search and Rescue (SAR) Agency deployed its personnel to facilitate search for passengers that went missing after a wooden boat sank in Malacca Strait near the Riau provincial waters, Tuesday night (Jan 21).
The Malaysian SAR deployed a rigid inflatable boat (RIB) and a Super Puma helicopter to assist the Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) that is operating two ships and a Super Puma helicopter from the Indonesian Air Force (TNI AU).
Nine people are reportedly still missing after the boat mishap.
"The search operation on the third day remains the same as yesterday, with the deployment of a Super Puma helicopter, KN 218 Dumai, and RIB in addition to the RIB and helicopter from Malaysia to search for the missing passengers in their respective waters," Kukuh Widodo, a spokesman for the Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) Office in Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau Province, noted on Friday.
By Friday morning, nine people were still missing after SAR workers found the body of a passenger afloat in the waters without a life vest and identity card on Thursday. The body has been taken to Dumai City, Riau Province.
It is believed that at the time of the accident, the sunken boat had onboard 20 Indonesian migrant workers.
Chief of the Basarnas Office in Pekanbaru, Ishak believed that all Indonesian migrant workers, intending to travel to neighboring Malaysia, had departed from Rupat Island, Bengkalis District, on Tuesday night at around 9:30 p.m. local time.
Some 10 passengers survived after being rescued by fishermen in the waters of Bengkalis District.
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Translator: FB Anggoro/Suharto
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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