| Sydney
Morning Herald January 7, 2003 A THIRD Singaporean navy sailor was confirmed dead as a salvage operation began today aimed at finding out what caused the worst naval accident in modern Singapore's history, the government said. A fourth sailor was still missing. A salvage contractor, supervised by the navy, began to raise a large metallic object believed to be a section that was sheared off the RSS Courageous, a 500-tonne Singaporean anti-submarine patrol boat, which was rammed by a Dutch cargo vessel just before midnight on Friday. The body of 1st Sergeant Seah Ai Leng, 25 - the third confirmed fatality - was found at Sebong in a northwestern part of the Indonesian tourist resort Bintan late yesterday, Singapore's Defence Ministry said in a statement. The island is about 20 kilometres from the collision site. Efforts were continuing to find 2nd Sergeant Chua Bee Lin who is still missing, the statement said. Officials have said they hold little hope of finding her alive. The bodies of Sergeant Heng Sock Ling, 24, and Corporal Goh Hui Leng, 22, were found over the weekend. A flotilla of navy ships is stationed in the collision area where navy officials said sonar had detected a metal piece measuring 5.4 metres by 3 metres suspected to be a part of the ship. The four women sailors were believed to have been asleep on board the Courageous when it was struck by the ANL Indonesia, a 52,000-tonne cargo ship owned by the Dutch company P&O Nedlloyd. The accident occurred about 1.8 kilometres north of Pedra Branca, an islet claimed by both Singapore and Malaysia, the ministry said. The island is known as Pulau Batu Puteh in Malaysia. Search efforts focused on a 9-kilometre stretch between the collision site and the north shore of Bintan. Indonesia assisted with air, naval and land search patrols, Toh said. Malaysia and Indonesia gave Singapore aircraft clearance to enter their airspace for search and rescue operations. No injuries were reported aboard the cargo ship, which suffered minor damage to its bow, the Defence Ministry said in an earlier statement. Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority was investigating the collision. The South Korea-bound container ship and crew remained in Singapore, authority spokeswoman Ong Chong Pheng said. P&O Nedlloyd could not be reached for comment. AP |
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