A man and his son were found dead after their boat capsized not far from Kampung Muhibbah jetty in Kuala Baram late Sunday. Umpum Ungat, 68, and his 18-year-old son Steward were on board the fishing boat with two other men — Baharudin Masbek, 47, and Frankie Francis, 48 — when they were hit by strong winds around 10.30pm.

It is believed that Umpum, who was the skipper, attempted to manoeuvre the boat against the wind direction, which might have caused it to overturn. Baharudin and Frankie managed to swim to safety, but Umpum and Steward were nowhere to be seen.

A search and recovery (SAR) operations centre was set up immediately at the Kampung Muhibbah jetty after the Fire and Rescue Department received a distress call at 11.30pm.

The search team comprising firefighters, members of Miri Civil Defence Force (APM) and local villagers discovered the body of the teenager at 8.22am yesterday — about 50m away from the jetty. Later at 3.40pm, they spotted Umpum at a section of the river, about 30m away from where they found Steward.

At the jetty, Assistant Minister for Land and Air Transportation and Safety Datuk Lee Kim Shin, Piasau assemblyman Datuk Sebastian Ting and Miri deputy police chief Supt Stanley Jonathan Ringgit were briefed by those at the SAR centre on the operations and the discovery of the bodies.

Later, Ting was seen comforting Umpum’s wife Banjau Endok, 64, who could not contain her emotions upon seeing the remains of her husband and son. Frankie — one of the survivors — stayed at the jetty all night.

“We were on our way back to the jetty after sending several parcels to a dockyard nearby when suddenly, strong winds came and rocked our boat.

“We almost reached the jetty when the boat capsized. Baharudin and I were under the overturned boat and we managed to swim to the riverbank. At that moment, we could see Umpum and his son,” he told The Borneo Post.

The bodies have been sent to Miri Hospital mortuary pending post-mortem.

Source:
courtesy of THE BORNEO POST

by Margaret Ringgit

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