A teacher and a student drowned and four other students went missing after a dragon boat carrying 18 people capsized in waters about 100 metres offshore Lebuh Macallum in Penang today, police said.

penang dragon boat accident 170109 wee kia siong Penang police chief Ayub Yaakob said the incident occurred at 10.20am and the body of the teacher, Chin Ai Fang, in his 20's, was recovered by a search-and-rescue (SAR) team 10 minutes later.

A spokesman of the SAR team said the body of the drowned student, Jason Ch'ng, 17, was recovered near the scene of the incident at 2.45pm.

Ayub had named the missing students as Brandon Yeoh, 17, Yong Xiang, 16, Koh Yiz Hiang, 17, and Cheah Zi Jun, 17.

Only one wore safety jacket

The teacher, two instructors and 15 students, of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Chung Ling, Air Itam, here were on a training stint from 8am when the boat was struck by a wave some two hours later and capsized, he said.

penang dragon boat accident 02 "Of the five students, only one had reportedly worn a safety jacket," he told reporters.

   

Ayub said a 60-member search-and-rescue team was conducting an aerial and sea search for the missing students.

The area where the boat capsized is often used by school boating teams to train in preparation for the Penang International Dragon Boat Race scheduled for the middle of the year.