A Malaysian fisheries department boat was reportedly missing on Wednesday with search and rescue efforts being launched to locate the vessel and its four crew members, authorities said.
The vessel, belonging to the Johor state fisheries department, could not be contacted and failed to be traced after heading out to sea at 12:45 p.m. Tuesday, Johor state’s maritime director Nurul Hizam Zakaria said in a statement, adding that search and rescue efforts had been launched at 8:00 p.m. on the same day.
The country’s Agriculture and Food Security Minister Mohamad Sabu said that search-and-rescue operations have since commenced with the help from Singapore and Indonesia.
“Search-and-rescue operations are being led by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency and involve our marine police, Singapore’s police operations command center, and Indonesia’s national search and rescue body,” he said. ■
