HARBOUR NEPTUNE

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Course/Position

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Captain who was lost over board found alive

The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) investigaged how and why the captain of the 'Harbour Neptune' went overboard and was only found after 18 hours adrift. The 42-year-old captain of the vessel was rescued by MMEA about 12.8 nautical miles off Pulau Panjang on April 19, 2020, at 5.45 p.m. after he was reported missing by a shipping agent. The SAR operation was launched after MMEA received a distress call that the captain of the ship was missing from his cabin. The vessel was heading from Pasir Gudang to Port Klang. It was believed that the captain went missing from his vessel on April 18 about 10 p.m. The crew members found him missing when the vessel was about to berth at Pintu Gedung, Pulau Indah. Gunawan was wearing his life vest when he was rescued and brought to the jetty. The captain and his crews had not been allowed to disembark from their vessel since March 18 following the implementation of the movement control order (MCO). The captain told that he only plied the Malaysian and Indonesian maritime routes and had no experience in manouevring his vessel beyond the littoral border. He had escaped injury and was found free from Covid-19 in a screening conducted by health officers. Screenings were also conducted on crew members of the vessel and none of them contracted Covid-19. The captain still has to undergo a 14-day quarantine. An investigating was going on whether there were any criminal elements involved in the case of the captain going overboard.