KOTA TINGGI: Details have emerged about the incident where a Royal Malaysian Navy diver drowned in a salvage operation at the sunken KD Pendekar site.
The 28-year-old man was on his second dive at 11.11am with another RMN diver executing several underwater tasks.
Upon surfacing, his dive buddy realised that he was missing.
Immediate search efforts were launched.
The 28-year-old diver was found at 1pm, but was pronounced dead.
His body was transported to Sultan Ismail Hospital (HSI) for post-mortem.
It is also learnt that the deceased was from Lahad Datu, Sabah, and is married with a one-year-old son.
The New Straits Times has reached out to the RMN and Defence Minister Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin, but the efforts were futile so far.
KD Pendekar sank on Aug 25, after it struck an unknown underwater object, two nautical miles southeast of Tanjung Penyusup, Johor.
District police chief Assistant Commissioner Hussin Zamora had earlier confirmed that an RMN diver was believed to have drowned while installing floats at the KD Pendekar wreck site.
It is learnt the RMN clearance diver is a specialist deployed to provide a "cordon sanitaire" around the sunken 50-year-old fast attack craft wreck site.