ALOR SETAR: The Malaysian Marine Department has ordered all passenger services ferries owned by Dragon Star Shipping Sdn Bhd to stop operations immediately after one of the ferries caught fire yesterday evening.
A spokesperson with the department said this was to facilitate an investigation on all aspects, including the source of fire, which was believed to have started in the engine compartment.
He said the investigation would also focus on whether the company was in full compliance with the government's standard operating procedures (SOPs).
"The investigation will take three to four days before we can determine if the company can be allowed to operate again or otherwise. Everything will be decided after the investigation is completed.
"Immediately after the incident yesterday, we started our investigation that went until midnight, and the process resumed today," he said when contacted by BH here today.
In the incident at about 2.45pm yesterday, 52 passengers on board the Dragon Star 1 ferry panicked when the ferry caught fire as it was departing from the Langkawi Ferry Terminal to Kuala Perlis.
Commenting further, the spokesperson said his department had conducted safety periodic inspection on the ferry that caught fire, and the certificate of inspection was still valid.
"Our staff conducts ferry documentation inspection everyday, while inspection is done once a year.
"We will continue to investigate to identify the problem, although the certficate of inspection is still valid," he added.