KOTA KINABALU: A crew member of KD Perantau is feared to have fallen into the sea near Bintulu, Sarawak this morning.
In a statement issued by the Royal Malaysian Navy Region 2 (Sabah) here, the crew member had failed to turn up for the routine roll call in the morning march at 9am.
The victim was last seen at the ship’s resting room at 7.15am.
The vessel is making its way home to the Lumut naval base from the Kota Kinabalu naval base here in Sepanggar when the incident took place earlier.
Naval Region 2 commander Rear Admiral Datuk Abdul Rahman Ayob said an operation room had been set up at their base.
“Search efforts at sea are being conducted by KD Selangor and a Fennec helicopter, assisted by maritime asset, KM Tabah, based in Bintulu.
“We have also sought assistance from the air force,” he said in the statement.
KD Perantau, which has 80 personnel on board, has been in East Malaysia for the past six days where they conducted a hydrography measurement system acceptance test and the naval base here was its last stop.