GEORGE TOWN: After a three-day search, the Mazda CX-5 sports utility vehicle (SUV), which plunged into sea following a horrific accident at KM4 of the Penang Bridge on Sunday, has finally been recovered from the sea.
The badly-damaged vehicle was pulled out of the sea via a cable attached to a crane, about 6pm.
An earlier effort proved fruitless as the cable is believed to have snapped during the winching process. Divers, however, pressed on and managed to reattach the cable.
The body of the driver was still strapped to the driver’s seat.
The search and rescue team had at 4pm yesterday spotted the vehicle on the seabed, located about 15m away from the Penang Bridge’s 34th pillar.
Yesterday, divers made repeated attempts to tie up the vehicle’s wheels with the cable before succeeding on the fourth try.
However, an hour and a half later, poor weather conditions and low visibility left rescuers with no choice but to suspend to retrieval effort at 7.30pm.
Efforts to bring up the SUV via crane today left traffic at a standstill on the Penang Bridge, with motorists slowing down to view the goings-on.
Muted cheers were heard when the rescuers eventually succeeded in hauling up the vehicle.
The remains in the vehicle was sent to the Seberang Jaya Hospital for a post-mortem examination.
The SUV plunged into sea after being rammed by a speeding Toyota Vios at 2.54am on Sunday.
The Mazda CX-5 was driven by student Moey Yun Peng, 20.
The 21-year-old driver of the Vios was injured and is being treated at a private hospital here.