JBB RONG CHANG 8

General information

Course/Position

Latest news

Body recovered from engine room

In the morning of June 8 one body was recovered from inside the engine room ofthe "JBB Rong Chang 8". Search and rescue team handed over the body to the police for identification. Salvors have turned over the capsized vessel. Local authorities also assisted in searching inside the vessel but no other bodies were discovered.

Wreck to be turned upright

A salvage company involved in the SAR operation at the "JBB Rong Chang 8" in Muar was in the midst of refloating the vessel and bring it to an upright position to facilitate the SAR team to find the remaining crew members who were believed to be trapped inside the vessel. The SAR operation was still ongoing at Tanjung Tohor waters where the incident happened. It was focused on the area where the vessel capsized since two bodies were found off Parit Haji Bakri, which is near the area. The diving operation to search for crew members has been suspended to pave the way for the salvage firm to turn the wreck around. The SAR team has so far found nine of the 18 crew members. Five were found safe and four were found dead. The chances to find more survivors were slim. The area of search had been extended to 360 square nautical miles and all the assets involved in the operation were still at their locations.

SAR operations center switched to Batu Pahat Maritime Office

The SAR operations centre, set up at Pantai Leka in Parit Jawa to search for missing crew of the "JBB Rong Chang 8" has been moved to the Batu Pahat Maritime Office. The centre began operating at Batu Pahat after the one at Pantai Leka was closed on March 26 at noon. The search entered the sixth day today for the nine remaining crew members of the sand-dredger which had 18 crew on board when it capsized on March 21 about 12 nautical miles west of Tanjung Tohor off Johor. The search, with divers from the Royal Malaysian Navy and private companies, has so far resulted in five crew members being found alive and four bodies recovered, leaving nine crew members unaccounted for. The area of search had been extended to 400 square nautical miles and all the assets involved in the operation were still at their locations. The search would also focus on small assets in the coastal waters, where there was a possibility of finding the crew, with the help of helicopters of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency. Help had been sought from the Indonesian search and rescue agency, BASARNAS, to conduct a search in Indonesian waters and fishermen’s associations along the coast from Batu Pahat to Melaka. The five crew members found alive were reported to be in stable condition at the Sultanah Fatimah Special Hospital in Muar. They were able to eat and drink, but are still being monitored by doctors. The hospital had enlisted the help of psychiatrists as some of the survivors were in a state of trauma. The capsized vessel was still at the same location and would be left there until the Marine Department had completed its investigation. The operation switched from search by divers at the vessel to search in the surrounding waters after repeated dives failed to detect any sign of life.