Port Klang boat capsize: Bodies of missing couple found, teen survivor recounts horror
The sole survivor of the incident, 17-year-old Alvin Chang Yan Qin, told the media on Saturday (Jun 7) that the incident “happened very fast”.
The boat is believed to have lost control before capsizing about 0.3 nautical miles west of Tanjung Harapan in Selangor, Malaysia. (Source: TikTok/AsriPalong)
KLANG: The bodies of a missing couple from the tragic boat capsize in the waters off Port Klang, Selangor, were found on Sunday (Jun 8) morning as the sole survivor recounted the harrowing moments leading up to the incident.
“The incident happened very fast,” 17-year-old Alvin Chang Yan Qin told the media on Saturday, a day after he was rescued.
According to Lieutenant Mohd Syafiq Sazali of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), patrol teams found the two missing bodies at around 7.45am on Sunday as search and rescue operations resumed, reported local news outlet the New Straits Times (NST).
“Both bodies were found floating, approximately 200m apart,” Syafiq told reporters after the victims’ bodies were brought ashore at the Selangor MMEA Jetty.
They are the parents of a three-year-old boy who was earlier found dead along with two other Malaysians after the boat capsized on Friday afternoon.
Chang, the only survivor among the six, said that the tragedy happened when the boat made a U-turn about 30 minutes after departing from the Royal Selangor Yacht Club dock.
“The incident happened very quickly when the relatively fast-moving boat suddenly overturned and in less than 10 seconds, water had entered all compartments of the boat,” Chang said at the Selangor maritime agency office on Saturday, as quoted by Free Malaysia Today (FMT).
Selangor maritime director Abdul Muhaimin Muhammad Salleh earlier said that the boat was believed to have lost control before capsizing about 0.3 nautical miles west of Tanjung Harapan.
“The situation inside the boat became chaotic, but I saved myself by trying to swim before managing to sit on top of the overturned boat,” Chang added.
The teen told the media that he could only scream for help after realising he could no longer see the other passengers. About five minutes of holding on to the boat, fishermen in another boat rescued him, before calling the authorities for assistance.
The missing victims are believed to be test-driving the boat, which was recently repaired, NST reported earlier.
“I understand this was the second test run for the boat and before this the boat was found to be in overall good condition,” he was quoted as saying by FMT.
The final two victims were earlier identified as Gan Hon Tat, 32, and his wife Carren Man, 29, both from Klang Utama in Selangor. Their three-year-old son Darren Gan was among the three found dead in the front compartment of the boat, alongside family friends Cheu Son Hin, 50, and Fong Yong Sen, 29, also from Klang Utama.
It is still unclear how Chang, the only survivor, is related to the other victims.
When the boat was successfully refloated by rescuers on Saturday, the couple was not inside, said Port Klang Fire and Rescue Department Haikal Jammy Ngali at a press conference earlier on Saturday, according to Bernama.
This strengthened the fire department’s theory that the missing victims drifted away with the current, he said.
Haikal also did not rule out the possibility that the married couple was thrown overboard during the capsize, FMT reported.
Police chief S Vijaya earlier said it is believed that all the victims were not wearing life jackets, which made the search-and-rescue effort more difficult. Initial investigations also found that the boat was operated by its owner at the time, he told FMT.
The boat is believed to belong to Cheu, according to The Star.
A woman who identified herself only as Hung, and claimed to be Cheu’s widow, told The Star that the boat did not have any issues.
She said that the first test drive had gone smoothly and the boat capsized during the second attempt on Friday.
Search and rescue was officially called off at 9.50am on Sunday after the two missing bodies were found, reported NST.
