MALACCA: A 60-year-old Singaporean fell overboard from the Super Star Gemini cruise ship in waters off Tanjung Kling, Malacca on Sunday night, prompting frantic search and rescue operations in the area for the second time in a month.
The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) confirmed that the search for Wuan Poh Fatt, who was on a holiday cruise to Penang from the Super Star Gemini's base in Singapore with five others, had fallen overboard at 11.05pm on Sunday night.
Investigations confirmed Wuan had gone missing following a headcount and had failed to respond to announcements shortly before the ship docked in Georgetown yesterday and the report was sent to the Kuala Linggi Maritime Operations Centre at 9.20pm yesterday by Captain Christian Westergren, the Super Star Gemini's master of vessel.
On board CCTV footage confirmed that a person had fallen overboard at 11.05pm in an area which GPS coordinates corresponded to between 9.5 nautical miles off Pulau Besar and 12 natutical miles off Tanjung Kling.
This is the second such incident in the space of a month in waters off Malacca.
On Oct 30, the body of Japanese sailor Atsushi Kodama, 56, was found afloat and in a decomposing state near Batu Pahat, having been reported to have fallen aboard merchant ship MT Doha a week earlier.