ALOR STAR: Waves up to four metres high put a stop to ferry trips from Kuala Kedah and Pulau Langkawi today, leaving 1,926 ferry passengers stranded.
Eight ferry trips were cancelled today due to bad weather which has been dogging the area since yesterday.
Konsortium Ferry Line Ventures Sdn Bhd operations manager Norhafiz Abdul Wahid said the cancellations involved four ferry trips from Kuala Kedah to Langkawi and four more from Langkawi to Kuala Kedah.
He said only one trip from each direction, Kuala Kedah and Langkawi, managed to continue at 7am and 7.30am earlier today.
"The total number of stranded passengers includes 1,030 from Langkawi to Kuala Kedah and 896 from Kuala Kedah to Langkawi," he said at a press conference at the Kuala Kedah ferry terminal today.
Norhafiz said that a ferry carrying 259 passengers from Langkawi to Kuala Kedah had to turn back to Langkawi at 12.55pm today due to rising waves that posed a safety threat to the passengers.
"We were informed that the waves were about four metres high and the wind speed was around 16 to 18 knots, which could endanger ferry and small boat operations.
"We also provided two additional ferries at 6pm from Langkawi to Kuala Perlis and at 8pm from Kuala Perlis to Langkawi today.
"Stranded passengers today can choose to change their ferry tickets to a different date or request a refund through our office," he said.
Norhafiz added that today's situation was similar to yesterday, which left 808 passengers stranded in Kuala Kedah after four trips from Langkawi to Kuala Kedah were cancelled.
He said that such situations were unavoidable due to bad weather at sea, and they must cancel ferry trips at certain times for passenger safety.
Meanwhile, a tourist from Spain, Alejandra Conoura, 48, said she was shocked to learn that the ferry she and her partner were supposed to take at 3pm today was cancelled due to bad weather.
She said she had to find temporary accommodation while waiting to continue their journey to Langkawi tomorrow.
"This is my first time in Malaysia, and I planned to vacation in Langkawi, but because of the bad weather today, we have to be patient," she said.