In yesterday’s incident, two men of a local fishing boat were rescued while their two crewmates are still missing after their vessel overturned off Sandakan.

Adrian @ Agus Bahtiar, 45, an Indonesian and Filipino Oyong @ Herman, 35, were saved by local fishermen some two hours after the incident at Kuala Meruap at 6.30am.

Sandakan Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) chief Zainudin Mohd Zuki said they were still searching for Andi Manso, 40, the boat skipper and Sindora, 42. Both are Indonesians.

“Their boat is believed to have capsized after being hit by giant waves while they were fishing at 4am on Jan 15,” he said.

He added six maritime authorities including the MMEA, police and navy, are combing an area stretching up to 175 square nautical miles to find the missing fishermen on the second day of the search operation today.

On Wednesday, another search and rescue operation was launched after three men were reported missing when their boat capsized in waters off Kinabatangan.

Zainuddin said a body was found floating at Tambisan Island off the Lahad Datu district earlier this morning.

He said the MMEA had retrieved the remains, which were later handed over to the police for an autopsy and identification by the next of kin.

“The choppy seas and bad weather could be the reasons behind the two tragedies in three days,” he said, adding the inclement weather is also making it difficult for the search parties.

As such, he advised fishing communities and coastal residents to keep abreast with the latest weather alerts before venturing out.