The boat left from Tanjung Aru in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, for Pulau Mengalum at 9am yesterday. It was reported missing when it didn’t arrive even 12 hours later.

The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) said in a statement that a report was lodged at 9.50pm yesterday. A search and rescue operation was launched less than 30 minutes later.

Two boats and a ship are out searching with the Royal Malaysian Air Force.

This isn’t the first time that a group of tourists has gone missing in the area surrounding Pulau Mengalum.

In May last year, four people, including a Spanish couple, went missing in a small motorised boat while on a two-hour ride back from Pulau Balambangan to Simpang Mengaya, better known as the Tip of Borneo.

45 year-old Hongkonger Tommy Lam Wai-yin, his employee Armella Ali Hassan, 23, and Spanish couple David Hernandez Gasulla, 29, and his wife Martha Miguel, 30, were rescued by Vietnamese fishermen after 10 days adrift.