The search operation for four missing victims of a tragic longboat accident that occurred in Sungai Batang Baleh in Kapit has led to the discovery of three bodies on Saturday. This was a somber development, as it was revealed that two of the victims found were over 100km away from the location where the boat capsized.
Timothy Barat, the station chief of the Kapit Fire and Rescue team, confirmed that the bodies of Sjn Jonathan Lambert, 51, and Jack Balan, 45, were among those found. The recovery of Sjn Jonathan’s body was near the Kapit express boat terminal at 4.02pm on Saturday, and his pistol was also recovered with him. Meanwhile, Jack Balan was discovered by the public in the waters of Pulau Kerto in Sibu, which was more than 100km away from the initial incident site, at around 11am.
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Barat further mentioned that Balan was identified by his wife before being transferred to Sibu Hospital for further processing. The third body was found around 11am in the waters near Bintangor on the same day and later drifted away to Batang Lebaan, nearly 200km away. Thankfully, a marine police team located the body around 5pm. Despite these discoveries, the search operation was halted at 6.30pm, leaving one victim still unaccounted for.
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It was a devastating incident that involved five individuals on the ill-fated boat that capsized on Thursday afternoon. Among them were two police personnel from the Kapit district police headquarters, Sjn Jonathan Lambert and Konst Iskandar Ibrahim, along with civilians Amerson John Nain, 47, Jack Balan, 45, and Moses Ngui, 47, who was fortunate to be rescued by members of the public during the tragic event. This heartbreaking turn of events has left the community in mourning as efforts continue to locate the final missing victim. -Bernama
