Two children, seven adults drown in boat tragedy
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JOHOR BARU: A boat trip turned tragic when nine people, including six members of a Pakistani family who were on holiday in Malaysia, drowned when their vessel capsized off Pengerang yesterday.
The victims, including two children, were fished out hours after the tragedy about 3.2 nautical miles south of Teluk Ramunia.
Fatal outing: One of the bodies of a drowned victim laid on a jetty in Pengerang, Kota Tinggi, yesterday. Nine people, including six members of a Pakistani family who were on a holiday in Malaysia, drowned when their vessel capsized.A 14-year-old boy, known as Aqeel Qirkeel, was the only survivor. He lost six of his family members. Three of the bodies have yet to be identified.
The Pakistani High Commission identified the dead as Zainab, Zulqarnain, Sidiqqa , Hameed, Qasim Ali and Jumah Khan.
The family had arrived in Kuala Lumpur on April 18 on a social visit, said the High Commission’s community communications attache Nadeem Ashraf.
Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency Southern Region Commander Laksamana Pertama Che Hassan Jusoh said the body of the first victim, an 11-year-old boy, was recovered by a trading vessel, the Atago , around 4.40am off Tanjung Pengelih.
Another trading vessel, Asean Restore , discovered the body of a woman and rescued Aqeel at 7.55am in Teluk Ramunia.
Che Hassan said that Singaporean coast guards later found the body of a man in their waters and handed it to local marine police around noon.
“Our men found the bodies of two men and a 12-year-old girl in Tanjung Ayam,” he said.
Three other bodies, including that of a woman, were found between 1.20pm and 3pm off Pulau Lima.
Che Hassan said the boat’s skipper was among those who drowned and authorities have yet to establish whether he was a local or from a neighbouring country.
“We are still trying to put together the pieces of the puzzle, including what caused the boat to capsize or the boat’s destination,” he said.
Che Hassan also said that they did not rule out the possibility that the boat was heading for Batam in Indonesia.
“We are still waiting to talk to the sole survivor to find out what actually happened,” he said, adding that the boy was still recovering from the ordeal. The search and rescue operation was called off at 6pm yesterday.
All nine bodies have been taken to the Hospital Sultan Ismail in Johor Baru for a post-mortem while Aqeel was admitted to the Kota Tinggi Hospital.
Sole survivor held on to mother’s body
THE sole survivor of a boating tragedy that claimed the lives of nine people said he swam for hours holding on to the body of his dead mother until he was fished out of the sea.
Victim Muhamad Aqeel Karkeen Quadir Hussein , 14, said that he and six of his family members were on an excursion with three other people of unknown nationalities at about 7pm on Monday night.
However, after about 20 to 30 minutes, the boat they were on suddenly began sinking.
“I swam and tried to look for the others but could not find them. I don’t remember how long I swam before I found my mother’s floating body.”
“I hooked my mother’s hand onto a chain I had on my neck and kept swimming with her body,” he said pointing to a bruise on his neck.
According to Muhamad Aqeel, he and his family had come on a holiday from Karachi and arrived in Kuala Lumpur on April 14, where they stayed at Hotel Wang in Kuala Lumpur for a week.
They then took a bus to Johor Baru and spent the night in a hotel here before heading off to a beach in Pengerang where they spent a night when the tragedy occurred.