Sector advised to inform cops
Published on: Thursday, May 05, 2016
Papar: Tourist guides and tour agents are encouraged to notify nearby police stations whenever they bring foreign tourists on their tour and travel activities as a precautionary measure.Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar (pic) who made the call said it is imperative they do so each time they have tourism activities for safety reasons."I have always reminded and advised tour and travel agents, including tourists, to inform police before they go out for their tour and travel activities.
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"We could give them advice and necessary assistance whenever they need it especially when they are in trouble," he said.Four people – three of them foreign tourists –were reported missing since Monday after their boat left Pulau Balambangan, for Tanjung Simpang Mengayau, in Kudat.Kudat District Police Chief, Supt Dawi Ossen said the missing have been identified as two Spaniards aged 30 namely David Hernades Gasulla and Martha Miguel, a 45-year-old Chinese national Lam Wai Yin and a 23 year-old Malaysian believed to be a tourist guide identified as Miss Ella.Daily Express learnt that Lam is not a Chinese national but born to Sabahan parents although living in Hong Kong for a long time. He is the owner of Tommy's Place, a cluster of chalets in Kudat and recently bought a boat which could have been the one they were in.
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They departed from Pulau Balambangan about 5.30pm and were supposed to reach Tanjung Simpang Mengayau a few hours later.Khalid has directed his men to gather information and find out the last location these four people were in before they went missing.
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To a question, he said he has yet to have information on whether they were abducted or their engine boat had failed."As of now, we cannot give any information on the cause of them going missing but based on the report that I received from my men the weather condition on Monday was not good and there were big waves and strong winds."Nonetheless, we are looking at all aspects in finding the four people," he said.On whether the four missing people could have been kidnapped, Khalid said he will not say anything yet until they are quite sure what actually had happened."Please do not speculate…let us investigate first and let us pray for their safety," he said.Regional Maritime Director First Admiral Mohd Zubil Mat Som said the second day of the search and rescue operation has been widened from 400 nautical miles to 750 nautical miles northwest off Simpang Mengayau. "We have deployed one vessel and three boats to the location in search of the four," he said. Also joining the search are two navy vessels, KD Jerong and KD Baung as well as two marine police boats. Mohd Zubil said their Dauphin aircraft which also took part in the search completed its duties at about 2.02pm and had returned to base in Tawau with still no sign of the missing boat. The air force has also deployed its Beachcraft Airborne to the area at about 3.45pm. Four aircraft from Layang Layang Aerospace, two helicopters, one Cessna and one Nomad were also deployed to the area. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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