KOTA KINABALU: Police are treating the deaths of three divers – including two Chinese tourists – near Kulapuan Island off Semporna near here, yesterday, as murder.
The trio is believed to have been killed by fish bombs as they were scuba diving.
Sabah police commissioner Datuk Omar Mammah said that a boatman and his assistant have since been detained to facilitate an investigation into the incident under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder.
“Today, we are bringing the duo to court for remand. There’s a strong possibility that the divers died because of (the fish bomb) explosion.
“They (the divers) were found motionless in the water, and there were also dead fish. The divers’ diving masks were shattered, and their dive tanks were not functioning,” he told the New Straits Times.
Omar also confirmed that one of the divers was a dive instructor and not a dive master, as was previously reported.
The victims have been identified as Zainal Abdun, an IMM13 holder, as well as Chinese tourists Zhao Zheng and Xu Yingjie.
Omar said that the incident took place at between 2.30pm and 3.30pm, adding that police have interviewed several individuals, including other tourists from China who were in nearby waters during the time of the incident.
“They, however, did not hear any explosion. When they first arrived at about 2pm, they only saw one small fishing boat lingering around,” he said.
According to Omar, there were three tourist boats in the area where the incident took place. One of the boats was boarded by the three victims, a boatman, and his assistant.
The two other boats were anchored near the jetty, which is close to the diving site, he added.
Omar, however, is unsure how many passengers were on the other boats, but noted that those on board were also supposed to go diving.
To a question on whether the boatman transporting the victims left the area after dropping them off at the dive point, Omar said the dive instructor had told the boatman to return to the jetty to take additional dive tanks.
“The boatman did as he was told, and left the three divers at about 2.30pm. An hour later, he returned to fetch the divers and that was when he saw a lot of bubbles coming from underwater.
“The boatman then saw the three divers in the water. They were not moving. He then called a group of divers to assist in bringing them (the victims) up,” he said, adding that the water was clear and its depth was 5.8m at the time of the incident.