Kota Kinabalu: Families of the Malaysian crew of MV DAI CAT 06 want investigations into the fate of the cargo ship and crew that went missing since Jan. 1 to be speeded up.
Operated by three local and two Indonesian crew, the ship left Kampung Acheh, Perak, on Dec. 23, 2022, and was to arrive in Kuching, Sarawak on Dec. 31.
The captain was identified as Adi, 43, and ship’s senior engineer, Damai Papae Ole, 57, are both Indonesians.
The Malaysians are the ship’s operations chief Mohammad Syafarizan Noor, 24, and two crew, Mohd Suhaideh Sudin, 22 and Derrent Littor, 22.
After almost a week, SAR (Search and Rescue) efforts by the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) were called off on Jan. 14 with no clues on the whereabouts of the vessel.
Basarnas used four assets comprising a ship, two boats and an aircraft to carry out the search covering approximately 800 square nautical miles of the search area in the waters of Natuna, Indonesia.
“I represent families of the other missing crew and we hope authorities and those responsible can urgently carry out a thorough investigation,” said Sandra Littor,32, the elder sister of missing crew, Derrent Littor.
She questioned the recent statement by Jimmy Tranh, believed to be the manager of the company that operated the vessel.
“Why is he confident to make such a statement that the crew is safe when the company didn’t even contact the victims’ families?” Sandra told reporters.
Derrent’s other sister, Lyli Littor, 28, said the last time she called Derrent was at 1.47pm on January 1. Sandra acknowledged investigations are ongoing by the MMEA but there are no leads.
“How much longer we must wait? Without assistance from authorities we cannot do much,” she said.
Tuaran Member of Parliament Datuk Wilfred Madius Tangau said he would bring up the issue to the Cabinet today (Wednesday).
He earlier met the family of Derrent.
“This is serious as it involves lives, there needs to be an explanation and assurance from the Malaysian government on the next course of action,” said Madius told a press conference.
He also informed Minister of Transport, Anthony Loke on the details, underlining the matter that needs to be brought to the attention of the Cabinet without delay.
Wilfred hoped the Malaysian Government can accord the case high priority as it did with missing Malaysian airlines flight MH370 which went missing on 8 March 2014.
He said it is imperative that the victims’ families be provided with answers to various questions and theories regarding the missing vessel and crew.
“There are no words that can describe what the families of the missing crew are going through, but we pray for a resolution to this case,” said Wilfred.
Madius thanked the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency for taking lead on the issue and keeping the families informed on any updates throughout search and rescue (SAR) efforts for the Malaysian-registered cargo ship and crew.
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