GEORGE TOWN: Strong undercurrents prevented any attempt to haul up an accident vehicle from the seabed at a point off the Penang Bridge up to noon today.
Seberang Perai Tengah District Police chief ACP Nik Ros Azhan Nik Abdul Hamid said the undercurrents could pose a great danger to the divers engaged in the operation to retrieve a Mazda CX-5 sport-utility vehicle that was detected in the sea yesterday.
The vehicle, with the driver inside, had fallen into the sea following an accident between two cars heading from the island to the mainland early on Sunday.
“The undercurrents will be dangerous for the divers who have to hook a cable to the vehicle for it to be hauled up by a crane,” Nik Ros Azhan told reporters at Km 4 of the bridge on the side heading to the mainland where the accident had taken place.
Earlier today, when the operation resumed, Marine Police Region 1 commander ACP Rosman Ismail said 40 divers would take turns to go into the water close to Pillar 34 of the bridge to hook the cable to the vehicle.
The Mazda CX-5, driven by Moey Yun Peng, 20, a private college student, overturned and plunged into the sea after it was hit by a Toyota Vios at Km 4 of the bridge on the side heading from the island to the mainland.
The driver of the Toyota Vios has been identified as a 21-year-old male employee of a hairdressing salon, who was injured and has been admitted to a private hospital in Bayan Baru here. --Bernama