KOTA KINABALU: A group of fishermen have found wreckage of a catamaran in the waters off Membakut, some 90km from here.

However, Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Ramli Din said authorities were still not able to confirm whether the wreckage was from the ill-fated catamaran which capsized near Pulau Mengalum (about 76km south-southeast of Membakut) on Jan 28.

“We will analyse the wreckage to confirm whether it is from that catamaran,” he said during a press conference at the state police headquarters in Kepayan near here, Monday.

On Jan 28, a catamaran carrying 28 Chinese tourists and three crewman sank while on its way to Pulau Mengalum, not long after departing a jetty in Tanjung Aru.

Two people, a skipper and a guide, were rescued near Pulau Tiga while 23 tourists were found in the waters off Semarang waters the following day.

Four people died in the mishap, while a further five people including four Chinese tourists – a child and three men, and another crewman – remain missing.-thestar