Those with information on scuba diver Karen Chong,who went missing since April 17 (Satuday) can contact the Sarawak Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) operations centre through its 24-hour hotline at 082-432 544 or MERS 999, says Sarawak Maritime Agency Public Relations Officer Lt Dya (M) Teo Nyelang.
The third day of the search and rescue operations, he said, is still ongoing as at 11am today.
“However we are yet to find new leads but we are still working closely with the maritime community who have been working round the clock to search for the victim,” he said when contacted by TVS here today.
It was reported that the disappearance of Chong was noticed by her friends and younger brother when she did not resurface after an hour and twenty minutes following a solo dive at 4pm near Pulau Satang.
Sarawak Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), Deputy Director of Operations, Maritime Captain Yousry Yaali was reported as saying that the Maritime Rescue Sub Center (MRSC) Kuching received information about the incident from the Sarawak Fire and Rescue Operations Center via a MERS 999 emergency call at 8pm Saturday.
When Chong failed to resurface after more than an hour, the other divers had searched the area. They reported hearing a whistle early on, but could not tell from which direction the sound came from.
A statement is expected to be released today after Chong’s brother had taken to his social media account to say that their family was forced to arrange their own searches for Karen following what he described as “slow rescue response”.
It is learnt that the search area today covers 373.73 nautical miles square around Pulau Satang Besar mobilised using assets through a few agencies namely the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department, The Royal Malaysian Marine Police and Police Airforce.
_pix credit Divernet
