SINGAPORE: The Singaporean among the six scuba divers who went missing after diving off Tioman Island on Malaysia's east coast on Saturday has been rescued.
He is said to be Mr Hu Jinjie.
Mr Hu and five other divers, one Chinese national and four Malaysians, were picked up by a passing tugboat.
The
group of seven, aged between 25 and 33, disappeared after going diving
off the island. The seventh member of the group resurfaced immediately
and raised the alarm.
An AFP report quoted a Malaysian official as saying all are safe and are back on Tioman island.
The
captain of the tugboat, Kencana Makmur 1, sent a report to a Malaysian
shipping company Lunar Shipping at 10.49am on Sunday to inform it of the
rescue.
Lunar Shipping's manager Peter Loo alerted MediaCorp of
the rescue after reading about the missing scuba divers on Channel
NewsAsia's iPad app.
Mr Loo said the six were handed over to the Malaysian marine police at 2pm.
Mr
Loo said: "They were diving at 12.30pm on Saturday. They were supposed
to dive for one hour. One hour later, they didn't resurface. The boatman
couldn't find them. The search and rescue started thereafter, until
today our boat found them."
Malaysia's east coast islands, famed for their corals and marine life, are a popular dive destination and accidents are rare.
- CNA/AFP/ck