2 Customs officers killed in boat crash

MUAR: It was supposed to have been a normal boat trip up the river for a Customs Department preventive unit.

But the vessel exploded in a ball of fire after crashing into a swamp, killing two Customs officers. Two other officers, who were on the vessel, which had set out from the Muar Customs Department jetty, had a close shave as they jumped overboard in the nick of time.

This is believed to be the first time such an incident involving a Customs boat has occurred. Muhammad Yusri Hashim and Mohd Asri Abdul Ghani, both 37, died while Osman Hussin, 54, and Kamaruisah Mohd Yusof, 33, have been warded.

Based in Port Dickson, the four had gone to Muar to take the highspeed boat for repair.

Early yesterday, they set out in the boat from the Muar Customs jetty for the dockyard at Kampung Tanjung Selabu, near Bukit Pasir. About 10am, the antenna of the 16-metre boat is believed to have snagged an electricity cable that hung across the narrow Sungai Terap.

The vessel spun out of control and crashed into the mangrove strewn riverbank near Kampung Pergam before it was engulfed by a cloud of smoke and burst into fireball. Fishermen, who rushed to the scene to help, found Custos officers Osman and Kamaruisah floating in the middle of the river and rescued them. Muhammad Yusri and Mohd Asri perished in the blaze.

Muar police chief Assistant Commissioner Mohd Nizar Mohd Ali said the boat was three kilometres away from the dock when it ran into trouble. Mohd Nizar refused to disclose what had caused the boat to lose control an crash into the riverbank, but said investigations were being carried out.

A fisherman who helped rescue the two officers recounted how one of the officers had pleaded with him to save his friends, who were trapped in the blazing vessel.

"He (the officer kept saying, 'My friends are still in the boat, my friends are still in the boat'", said Mohd Diah Hashim.

The 43-year-old fisherman said he and some officer as the blaze had totally engulfed the vessel.

"We could not do anything as the fire was too big and the heat was too intense," Mohd Diah said.

Firemen took more than two hours to extinguish the blaze and recover the bodes of Muhammad Yusri and Mohd Asri from the cabin. The two survivors have been warded at the Muar Sultanah Fatimah Specialist Hospital.

The bodies of Muhammad Yusri and Mohd Asri were sent to the same hospital for a post-mortam and later sent back to Negri Sembilan.

Source: NST newspaper