TIOMAN FERRY TRAGEDY: Body of one victim found By : S. Suganthi
Seng May Ying (centre) being comforted by relatives after her husband’s body was found.
MERSING: Police yesterday recovered the body of 37-year-old Wong Sing Ling, one of the three missing victims of Saturday's ferry mishap, 10.5km from the accident site.
Rompin police chief Abdul Rahman Jalil said the body, which was sent to Hospital Mersing, was found by the search and rescue team at 10.30am, near Pulau Harimau.The body was found by the police air wing. It was brought in from Tanjung Gemok, about 45 minutes from Mersing.Rahman said the search and rescue team saw another body in the sea but attempts to retrieve it failed as it quickly disappeared into the water."It was some 30 minutes after the first body was retrieved about 30m away," he said.
Seng May Ying (centre) being comforted by relatives after her husband’s body was found.
MERSING: Police yesterday recovered the body of 37-year-old Wong Sing Ling, one of the three missing victims of Saturday's ferry mishap, 10.5km from the accident site.
Rompin police chief Abdul Rahman Jalil said the body, which was sent to Hospital Mersing, was found by the search and rescue team at 10.30am, near Pulau Harimau.The body was found by the police air wing. It was brought in from Tanjung Gemok, about 45 minutes from Mersing.Rahman said the search and rescue team saw another body in the sea but attempts to retrieve it failed as it quickly disappeared into the water."It was some 30 minutes after the first body was retrieved about 30m away," he said.
The 120-member search and rescue team had scoured a five-kilometre radius area where the ill-fated Seagull Express 2 ferry caught fire and sank while cruising to Tioman from Mersing.The team was still looking for Chong Yong Kim, 43, from Petaling Jaya and Wong Han Wan, 29, a factory supervisor from Klang.Wong is the fifth victim.
Four others drowned in the incident, which is the second in less than a year. Last November, a 3-year-old boy was killed after a ferry collided with another passenger ferry in Langkawi.In both incidents, passengers complained about the lack of life jackets and of the unhelpful crew.Wong leaves a wife and two sons. Meanwhile, family members of the remaining two missing passengers expressed their disappointment and anger over the way the search and rescue operation was carried out on Tuesday.
They claimed the operation was not carried out seriously and lacked professionalism.Wong Yuh Jen, 24, Han Wan's sister, said the families were told the search and rescue operation would begin at 8am but the team only arrived three hours later."They didn't allow family members to join in the operation. "My sister began crying in front of the officers and only then did they allow us to go," she said, adding that three boats went in the operation.
Sunburnt and filled with emotion, she said the search and rescue team didn't venture into nearby islands to look for the victims."Instead, they only shouted from the boat, calling out the victims' names. What if my brother had fainted or was injured? How could he have responded?" she said as she wiped her tears."These are lives we are talking about, not mere puppets." Chan Ewe Aun, 53, brother-in-law of Sing Ling, said he felt the search and rescue team was not doing enough.Yong Kim's brother, Choong Yoong Fatt, agreed with Chan and was disappointed that helicopters were not sent to look for the missing victims.
The arrival of a civil defence van at the Mersing jetty at 11.20am, with officials carrying stretchers, saw the victims' families rushing to the jetty. Many began to cry openly. Some started praying and chanting loudly.
Seems like the people who is suppose to be helping is not doing enough to help and lack of professionalism. Even mere citizen can think of going nearer to beach side to perform SAR, but the trained professional can't think of it? Shame, shame. All eyes are looking at the related parties, seeing how things will go. Would it be forgotten just like that or would they just be allocated a summon which they can pay within days and then to resume their business?
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