GEORGE TOWN: The family of missing Brazilian Lucas Bondezan is offering a reward to anyone who can find him, dead or alive.
Penang Maritime District II director Rozali Mohd Said said the victim's sister arrived from Brazil this morning and distributed pamphlets on the missing victim, besides asking the Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) to pass the message.
Rozali said the reward is in the form of cash, but the family did not state the amount.
Bondezan, 24, was among four crew members of the luxury yacht UN1K which capsized some 15 nautical miles northwest of Muka Head at about 3am last Friday.
It is learnt that the yacht, en route to Singapore from a yacht club in Langkawi at 7pm, had experienced technical problems in the engine room before it caught fire and later exploded.
The other three crew members, who were rescued by a local fishing vessel, received treatment at the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital in Kedah and have since been discharged. They have been identified as Jaroslav Horejsek, 37, from the Czech Republic, who suffered serious injuries on his leg; Rudolf Kolic, from Croatia, who also suffered leg injuries; and Novak Novakovic from Serbia.
The search and rescue (SAR) operation for Bondezan entered its seventh day today without any leads as to his or the luxury yacht’s whereabouts.
Bad weather conditions have hampered the MMEA’s attempts to deploy a remote operated vehicle (ROV) to locate Bondezan.
MMEA northern region maritime director First Admiral Tan Kok Kwee told the New Straits Times that they would continue their operations for a week before deciding whether or not to call off the search.