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Dec 28, 2010
MERSING FERRY TRAGEDY
'I struggled and told myself I cannot die'
By Kimberly Spykerman
http://www.facebook.com/search.php?q=Xenn+Teo&init=quick&tas=search_preload#!/profile.php?id=545390795
MERSING (JOHOR): For a few terrifying minutes on Sunday, administrative executive Xenn Teo was trapped inside the cabin of a boat that had overturned off Johor.
There were 29 people on the wooden vessel built for 12 when tragedy struck.
'I struggled and told myself I cannot die,' she recounted yesterday.
She flailed around in the darkened cabin, managed to find a window that had been broken and squeezed through a narrow gap.
When she surfaced, everything was a blur because she had lost her spectacles.
But she was lucky to be alive. Four Singaporeans died, and another was still missing last night.
Ms Teo, 25, was among 29 people who had spent Christmas in a kelong off Johor. They were heading back to the Tanjung Leman jetty in Mersing on Dec 26 when their boat capsized.
Her boyfriend, customer service executive Daniel Lim, 35, said the incident happened halfway through the 30-minute trip. Two of his relatives died.
Ms Teo said the currents were strong and it was windy when water started seeping into the boat. She was seated inside the cabin at the time.
'Passengers seated near the back freaked out and started moving into the cabin,' she recounted outside the Mersing Hospital mortuary.
As the boat started tilting backwards, the boat captain shouted for passengers to move to the front.
They scrambled to the front, and the boat started to rock even more.
For a brief moment, it seemed to stabilise. But then another wave hit, and the boat flipped onto its side.
After Ms Teo escaped from the cabin and surfaced, a passenger clinging on to a life buoy made his way towards her.
She clung on to him, with two other survivors, before they were rescued by fishing boats in the area.
Mr Lim clung on to a styrofoam ice box.
'I was alone and shouting for help, but no one came. I almost gave up,' he said.
He, too, was saved by a fishing boat.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Giant waves hit boat and flipped it over
Survivors tell of struggle to break free of cabin and stay afloat in choppy sea
By Kimberly Spykerman & Amresh Gunasingham
ONE moment, all was calm. The next, giant waves hit the boat, tossing it high into the air. All hell broke loose.
Yesterday, survivors of the Mersing tragedy recounted the horror after their overladen, wooden boat capsized in the sea off Johor on Boxing Day.
For a few terrifying minutes, some people were trapped inside the cabin of the overturned boat before they managed to squeeze out through the window.
Others - including those who could not swim - desperately tried to keep afloat while swallowing sea water. They grabbed on to anything they could find - wooden planks, pails, life buoys.
Fortunately, there were three to four fishing boats nearby which went to their rescue.
But five Singaporeans were not so lucky. The bodies of two men and a woman were recovered a few hours after the incident - Mr Adrian Tan, 67, Mr Chua Lim Khoon, 45, and Ms Low Li Jun, 33.
At 7am yesterday, the body of Mr Tor Soon Kwee, 41, was found 2km from the jetty, washed up on the beach.
The search is still on for Mr Ng Kian Teck, 44.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman said last night that the bodies of the four Singaporeans were due back last night.
All those who had been warded in hospital have been discharged. Two are said to be now warded at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
Of the 29 passengers, 19 were Singaporeans, nine were Malaysians and one was a Chinese national. Many were either relatives or friends.
The boat driver and the owner of the kelong the group had stayed on, who also owned the boat, have since been arrested.
The group had arrived at the Ah You kelong in Sibu Island, off the town of Mersing, on Christmas Day for a weekend of fishing.
At about noon the next day, the group set off for home.
Among them was administrative executive Xenn Teo, 25, who said she knew the boat was overladen because she saw a sign on the vessel saying it had capacity for only 12 passengers.
But she thought nothing of it as it was only a 30-minute journey across the water. The group also did not want to wait another two hours for the next boat back to shore, she said.
Engineer Wang Li Hui, 40, said the boat had many life vests, but no one wore them. Ms Teo added that the boatman also did not insist they don the vests.
Mr Wang told Lianhe Wanbao newspaper that when the waves hit, the boat started rocking violently and water started gushing in. The boat later overturned and passengers hit the water, but he said he knew how to swim, so quickly overcame his panic.
His wife, Ms Lin Li Ting, 37, however, was trapped inside the cabin.
'Someone broke the cabin windows, and I pulled her out,' he said. 'I was very worried about her. Later, I saw a man hugging a life buoy, so I held my wife's hand and swam towards the buoy, waiting for other boats to come save us.'
Ms Lin said passengers inside the cabin panicked when they found that the windows were sealed shut.
'I kept swallowing the sea water that was gushing in. I couldn't swim and almost wanted to give up, and thought I would die inside the boat.'
Malaysian police told The Straits Times yesterday that the boat had been hit by giant waves which were brought on by a sudden gust of wind.
Weather experts said such gusts of wind are not unusual around the eastern coast of Malaysia during the north-east monsoon season.
It also emerged that the boat was not equipped with enough life jackets for all the 29 passengers.
Given that the boat was licensed to carry 12 people, it had enough jackets for only 16 passengers, which is typical for a boat that size, said Mr Jeffry Shah Ibrahim of Mersing's Marine Department.
Said customer service executive Daniel Lim, 35: 'It was a nightmare...I hope that after this, they will enforce safety measures. This time, it cost five lives.'
Yesterday, families of the victims went to the jetty, where they burned incense and made offerings. Many were sobbing uncontrollably. One of them, a sister of Mr Chua, collapsed in grief.
The family of Mr Ng said prayers and kept vigil as the search continued. But at 3pm, some volunteer divers called off the search because of poor visibility and bad weather conditions.
[email protected]
[email protected]
Additional reporting by Ang Yi Ying
MERSING FERRY TRAGEDY
'I struggled and told myself I cannot die'
By Kimberly Spykerman
http://www.facebook.com/search.php?q=Xenn+Teo&init=quick&tas=search_preload#!/profile.php?id=545390795
MERSING (JOHOR): For a few terrifying minutes on Sunday, administrative executive Xenn Teo was trapped inside the cabin of a boat that had overturned off Johor.
There were 29 people on the wooden vessel built for 12 when tragedy struck.
'I struggled and told myself I cannot die,' she recounted yesterday.
She flailed around in the darkened cabin, managed to find a window that had been broken and squeezed through a narrow gap.
When she surfaced, everything was a blur because she had lost her spectacles.
But she was lucky to be alive. Four Singaporeans died, and another was still missing last night.
Ms Teo, 25, was among 29 people who had spent Christmas in a kelong off Johor. They were heading back to the Tanjung Leman jetty in Mersing on Dec 26 when their boat capsized.
Her boyfriend, customer service executive Daniel Lim, 35, said the incident happened halfway through the 30-minute trip. Two of his relatives died.
Ms Teo said the currents were strong and it was windy when water started seeping into the boat. She was seated inside the cabin at the time.
'Passengers seated near the back freaked out and started moving into the cabin,' she recounted outside the Mersing Hospital mortuary.
As the boat started tilting backwards, the boat captain shouted for passengers to move to the front.
They scrambled to the front, and the boat started to rock even more.
For a brief moment, it seemed to stabilise. But then another wave hit, and the boat flipped onto its side.
After Ms Teo escaped from the cabin and surfaced, a passenger clinging on to a life buoy made his way towards her.
She clung on to him, with two other survivors, before they were rescued by fishing boats in the area.
Mr Lim clung on to a styrofoam ice box.
'I was alone and shouting for help, but no one came. I almost gave up,' he said.
He, too, was saved by a fishing boat.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Giant waves hit boat and flipped it over
Survivors tell of struggle to break free of cabin and stay afloat in choppy sea
By Kimberly Spykerman & Amresh Gunasingham
ONE moment, all was calm. The next, giant waves hit the boat, tossing it high into the air. All hell broke loose.
Yesterday, survivors of the Mersing tragedy recounted the horror after their overladen, wooden boat capsized in the sea off Johor on Boxing Day.
For a few terrifying minutes, some people were trapped inside the cabin of the overturned boat before they managed to squeeze out through the window.
Others - including those who could not swim - desperately tried to keep afloat while swallowing sea water. They grabbed on to anything they could find - wooden planks, pails, life buoys.
Fortunately, there were three to four fishing boats nearby which went to their rescue.
But five Singaporeans were not so lucky. The bodies of two men and a woman were recovered a few hours after the incident - Mr Adrian Tan, 67, Mr Chua Lim Khoon, 45, and Ms Low Li Jun, 33.
At 7am yesterday, the body of Mr Tor Soon Kwee, 41, was found 2km from the jetty, washed up on the beach.
The search is still on for Mr Ng Kian Teck, 44.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman said last night that the bodies of the four Singaporeans were due back last night.
All those who had been warded in hospital have been discharged. Two are said to be now warded at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
Of the 29 passengers, 19 were Singaporeans, nine were Malaysians and one was a Chinese national. Many were either relatives or friends.
The boat driver and the owner of the kelong the group had stayed on, who also owned the boat, have since been arrested.
The group had arrived at the Ah You kelong in Sibu Island, off the town of Mersing, on Christmas Day for a weekend of fishing.
At about noon the next day, the group set off for home.
Among them was administrative executive Xenn Teo, 25, who said she knew the boat was overladen because she saw a sign on the vessel saying it had capacity for only 12 passengers.
But she thought nothing of it as it was only a 30-minute journey across the water. The group also did not want to wait another two hours for the next boat back to shore, she said.
Engineer Wang Li Hui, 40, said the boat had many life vests, but no one wore them. Ms Teo added that the boatman also did not insist they don the vests.
Mr Wang told Lianhe Wanbao newspaper that when the waves hit, the boat started rocking violently and water started gushing in. The boat later overturned and passengers hit the water, but he said he knew how to swim, so quickly overcame his panic.
His wife, Ms Lin Li Ting, 37, however, was trapped inside the cabin.
'Someone broke the cabin windows, and I pulled her out,' he said. 'I was very worried about her. Later, I saw a man hugging a life buoy, so I held my wife's hand and swam towards the buoy, waiting for other boats to come save us.'
Ms Lin said passengers inside the cabin panicked when they found that the windows were sealed shut.
'I kept swallowing the sea water that was gushing in. I couldn't swim and almost wanted to give up, and thought I would die inside the boat.'
Malaysian police told The Straits Times yesterday that the boat had been hit by giant waves which were brought on by a sudden gust of wind.
Weather experts said such gusts of wind are not unusual around the eastern coast of Malaysia during the north-east monsoon season.
It also emerged that the boat was not equipped with enough life jackets for all the 29 passengers.
Given that the boat was licensed to carry 12 people, it had enough jackets for only 16 passengers, which is typical for a boat that size, said Mr Jeffry Shah Ibrahim of Mersing's Marine Department.
Said customer service executive Daniel Lim, 35: 'It was a nightmare...I hope that after this, they will enforce safety measures. This time, it cost five lives.'
Yesterday, families of the victims went to the jetty, where they burned incense and made offerings. Many were sobbing uncontrollably. One of them, a sister of Mr Chua, collapsed in grief.
The family of Mr Ng said prayers and kept vigil as the search continued. But at 3pm, some volunteer divers called off the search because of poor visibility and bad weather conditions.
[email protected]
[email protected]
Additional reporting by Ang Yi Ying
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