Malaysian authorities resumed a search today for four people missing off northern Borneo in a rented boat.

Eight vessels and a helicopter were searching the waters off the resort of Tanjung Simpang Mengayau after the group failed to return from a trip to Balambangan Banggi Island this week, the New Straits Times reported.

The area has seen recent kidnappings for ransom, but maritime authorities said they were not ruling out mechanical failure as a cause for the disappearances.

The missing were named as David Hernandes Gasulla, 29 and his wife, Martha Miguel, 30, from Spain and Tommy Lam Wai Yin, 44, a citizen of China who owns a resort in Tanjung Simpang Mengayau in on Borneo, the Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) said in a statement. They are also searching for a Malaysian woman identified only as Ella, 23.

Tanjung Simpang Menggayau is also known as the Tip of Borneo, the northernmost part of Borneo Island where the South China Sea meets the Sulu Sea.

The group left the island at 5.30pm (0930 GMT) on Monday, and were due back by 8 pm. When they did not show up, the boat owner lodged a police report.

A search and rescue operation was launched at 2.20 pm yesterday. “We are not ruling out the possibility of the boat malfunctioning due to the bad weather and strong currents,” MMEA official First Admiral Mohamad Zubil Mat Som said.

The north-eastern part of Sabah is also notorious for a spate of cross-border kidnappings due to its proximity to southern Philippines, the home of the terror group Abu Sayyaf.

- dpa