The crew members arriving at Lumut jetty.
IPOH: The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) has picked up 30 crewmembers of a sunken Taiwanese fishing vessel off Pulau Jarak in waters bordering Malaysia and Indonesia.
The agency received a distress call that the Jin-Shan-Mei had sunk 18 nautical miles southwest of the island at about 12.05am yesterday, said Lumut MMEA enforcement head Captain Abdul Razak Johan.
The fishing vessel, on its way from Cape Town in South Africa to Singapore, was believed to have collided with an unidentified vessel, he added.
”A search and rescue operation was mounted with KM Tugau sent out to the location.
”We also sought the help of other ships in the vicinity to help in the search,” he said, adding that one, the APL Alonis, responded with information on the whereabouts of the sunken vessel.
”The KM Tugau managed to reach the spot at about 3am and picked up all 30 crewmembers.
”They stayed afloat in two rafts before being taken aboard the APL Alonis,” he added.
The crewmembers comprised five Koreans, five Filipinos, a Taiwanese, 11 Chinese, four Vietnamese and four Indonesians
The Star
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