KUCHING: A female scuba diver has gone missing while scuba diving in the waters of Pulau Satang here on Saturday afternoon.
The disappearance of Chong Su Sian, 31, was noticed by her friends and younger sibling when she did not resurface after an hour and twenty minutes following a solo dive at 4pm.
Sarawak Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), Deputy Director of Operations, Maritime Captain Yousry Yaali said the Maritime Rescue Sub Center (MRSC) Kuching received information about the incident from the Sarawak Fire and Rescue Operations Center via a MERS 999 emergency call at 8pm Saturday.
Following the call, he said MRSC Kuching activated the search and rescue operation at 9pm.
"The operations involves MMEA, Marine Police, Fire and Rescue Department and the Civil Defence Force (APM).
"The search is concentrated within a radius of two nautical miles from the last location the victim was reported missing," he told a press conference at the Telaga Air public jetty, here today.
Yousry said the victim was with five individuals, including her younger brother and they were conducting scuba diving activities some 23 nautical miles north of Pulau Satang.
"After making the first dive with two male divers, the victim is said to have dived for a second time alone.
"After more than an hour, when the victim failed to resurface, the younger brother and other fellow divers searched the area around where the victim was believed to have gone missing, but no clues were found," he said.
He added that the victim's younger brother also informed that they heard a whistling sound but could not detect its direction.
Yousry said the victim and other divers were certified divers and conducted regular diving activities.