GEORGE TOWN: The third day of the search and rescue (SAR) for the CX-5 sports utility vehicle (SUV) which plunged into the sea at KM4 of the Penang Bridge resumed at 7am today.
Rescuers’ main mission today is to lift the vehicle from the sea floor.
Yesterday, rescuers spotted the vehicle at 4pm on the sea floor, about 15m away from the 34th pillar of the bridge.
However, efforts to retrieve the vehicle with a crane were suspended at 7.30pm due to the weather conditions and poor visibility.
It is believed that the victim was still strapped in the driver’s seat.
Marine Police Region 1 commander Assistant Commissioner Rosman Ismail said the patrol boats had been on site to secure the area.
“Even the team of divers have been on site to assess the area. For now, the sea condition is much better than yesterday’s.
“We will try our level best to retrieve the vehicle today,” he said when met at the operations centre today, adding that rescuers were facing difficulty in hooking the vehicle to lift it.
Yesterday, divers had made three attempts to hook the vehicle’s wheels before they succeeded on the forth.
However, the one-and-a-half hour effort to retrieve the vehicle using a crane was unsuccessful and was subsequently suspended.
The SUV plunged into sea after being rammed into by a Toyota Vios at 2.54am on Sunday. The Mazda CX-5 was driven by 20-year-old student Moey Yun Peng.
The 21-year-old driver of the Vios was injured and is being treated at a private hospital here.