Sarawak police chief tells regatta participants to wear life jackets, prioritise safety

KUCHING (Oct 19): Sarawak Police Commissioner Dato Mancha Ata has called on participants of the Sarawak Regatta to prioritise safety by wearing life jackets and being accompanied by escort boats during training sessions at all times.

He also advised vessels passing through the regatta training zones to reduce speed to avoid generating large wakes that could pose risks to participants in the area.

“Previously, participants did not wear life jackets during training. Now, I strongly advise them to do so for their safety.

“This is to prevent incidents like this from happening,” he said when met by reporters at the SAR operations centre in Bintawa today.

Mancha emphasised that this precaution is essential to prevent accidents.

“During training (yesterday), the weather was hot, and the incident that occurred may have caused panic, making it harder for participants to save themselves,” he said.

Meanwhile, on the search-and-rescue (SAR) operation for the five missing rowers, Mancha revealed that rescuers have conducted six dives so far without success, adding that the search area spans a 10-kilometer radius around the incident site.

Discussing challenges faced by the SAR teams, Mancha noted that poor underwater visibility complicates efforts.

“Although we utilise sonar, it cannot verify whether the object detected is human or not. Divers need to get in there and confirm for us.

“Despite that, we hope the weather remains favourable so we can continue the search until all five victims are found,” he said.