Last Updated 23rd May, 2017, 8:41 AM
The boat was detected about 90 nautical miles east of Kuantan
KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Najib Razak in a Facebook post last night said all nine crew members on board the missing boat belonging to the Royal Malaysian Navy’s (RMN) KD Perdana vessel, have been found safe.
“Alhamdulillah, all nine crew members of KD Perdana’s boat have been found safe.
“Well done to the search and rescue team and thanks to all who helped out,” he said in the post.
Earlier, Navy chief Admiral Ahmad Kamarulzaman Ahmad Badaruddin confirmed that the boat was detected about 90 nautical miles east of Kuantan.
It was detected by a ‘Beechcraft’ aircraft belonging to the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) following an initial discovery by a merchant ship.
KD Perdana reportedly lost contact with the boat which was conducting a routine maritime patrol to drive out foreign fishing boats from Sedili on Saturday.
— Bernama

Crew members found safe, investigation on KD Perdana to be continued

The nine crew members of KD Perdana were found last night at 90 nautical miles from the East of Kuantan by a trader boat

KD Perdana and the nine crew members on board were found last night at 90 nautical miles from the East of Kuantan by a trader boat.
KUALA LUMPUR – The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) has utilised its assets including the EC-725 helicopters to the location where the nine crew members of KD Perdana were found last night at 90 nautical miles from the East of Kuantan by a trader boat.
Chief of RMN, Admiral Tan Sri Ahmad Kamarulzaman Ahmad Badaruddin said, the RMN received the information about the sighting of KD Perdana about 4.00 P.M yesterday.
Following that, a RMN Beechcraft was sent to the location. The aircraft reported at 7.07 P.M. that the boat and nine crew members of KD Perdana were found safe.
“Alhamdulillah, they managed to utilise all trainings they received in crucial moments like this.
“Although they had drifted and cut off supplies for a very long period, they still maintained their calms and knew what to do,” he said.
Nevertheless, we will investigate on the actual reason the boat was cut off from communication and we cannot confirm to any speculation now.
He added, a thorough investigation on the incident will be conducted where all crew members will be interviewed later. At this moment, the RMN’s main mission is to bring them back safely.
“I’d like to extend my deepest appreciation to all involved in the search and rescue, especially the Maritime Enforcement Agency (MEA), the fishermen, my colleagues in Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam who joined hands in searching the RMN boat,” he said.
On 9.30 A.M. last Saturday, KD Perdana tracked 10 Vietnamese fishermen boat at the waters of Sedili.
Five of them were successfully chased out of the Exclusive Economy Zone (EEZ), while the other five headed towards the north of Tanjung Sedili.
At 1.00 P.M., five foreign fishermen boats were located by patrol boat, and they were instructed to investigate two foreign fishermen boats moving West. The KD Perdana went on a chase with three other boats.
At 1.30 P.M., KD Perdana lost contact with the other boats via walkie talkie. A search operation was done before it became official at 7.30 P.M. last night.
Pada 1.30 tengah hari, KD Perdana gagal menghubungi bot berkenaan melalui walkie talkie dan memulakan operasi pencarian sebelum operasi dimulakan secara rasmi pada 7.30 P.M. on Sunday – MalaysiaGazette