Central Seberang Perai district police chief Nik Ros Azhan Nik Abdul Hamid said the vehicle was located some 15m underwater, close to Pier 34 of the bridge near Perai, at about 4pm today.

He said divers from the marine police scuba unit and the fire and rescue department had a difficult time looking for the vehicle and the driver in it since it crashed into the sea at 2.55am yesterday because of choppy seas.

The SAR personnel, who had established a 15.25m radius search area, will likely use a crane to lift the car out of the water and into a barge.

It is believed that the driver of the white Mazda CX-5 is Moey Yun Peng, 20, a college student from Taman Kempas in Butterworth.

His parents reported him missing to police yesterday and also told them he drove the same type of car. A family member said Moey was driving alone.

A dashcam video recording of the incident showed a speeding black Toyota Vios crashing into the SUV on the fast lane.

Based on the video, the Toyota zig-zagged from the centre to the left lane and then to the right, where the Mazda was.

As the black car came at speed to the right lane, it swiped the SUV, causing it to flip twice across three lanes before crashing through the concrete guardrails into the sea.

The Toyota car spun and also crashed into the guardrails but came to a halt. A motorcyclist riding on the road shoulder managed to stop on time and witnessed the other car being flipped over into the sea.

The 21-year-old driver of the Toyota is receiving treatment for multiple injuries and has since tested positive for cannabis use.

News reports said the two drivers were friends and had gone to a birthday party in George Town before heading back to Butterworth where they lived.

The SAR teams employed the Teledyne T20 – a special sonar device – to look for the car. A total of 108 people, including 38 divers, and 14 small ships from different agencies took part in the search for the vehicle.