The Royal Malaysian Navy's KD Perdana patrol boat became adrift because it ran out of fuel and suffered communication equipment failure, thus disabling it from contacting its mother ship.
RMN chief Ahmad Kamarulzaman Ahmad Badaruddin said these were the preliminary findings on why the boat went missing but it was still to early to arrive at conclusions as to what really happened.
"They lost contact while conducting operations to chase away encroaching foreign fishing vessels... we are as yet unable to detail what went wrong and have set up an inquiry board to investigate this matter.
"This includes finding out how and why the communication equipment broke down. A senior officer will head the board and will be assisted by several others to get to the bottom of this case to ensure there is no recurrence."
He was speaking at a media conference at RMN's Tanjung Gelang base in Kuantan today after welcoming the stricken crew of KD Perdana which went missing off Tanjung Sedili, Johor on Saturday.
[More to follow]
- Bernama