TATAU EXPRESS BOAT TRAGEDY: Most of the victims on the capsized express boat heading to Ulu Kakus are believed to be mothers and their young children

Not giving up hope: A team from the Fire and Rescue Department along with some volunteers looking for the missing victims around the express boat.

State rep: Most victims were women and children
By YU JI
yuji@thestar.com.my

BINTULU: Most of the victims on the capsized express boat heading to Ulu Kakus are believed to be mothers and their young children.

They were on their way home from Tatau when the tragedy occurred at about 2.30pm on Monday.

Kakus assemblyman John Sikie Tayai believed that many of them were in Tatau for a children’s clinic programme on Sunday.

“I cannot be 100% sure at this moment because information is still hazy – there’s much confusion – but I’ve been told that most of the people on the boat were mothers and their children,” he said over the phone.

“The accident happened just an hour into the journey, which started on Sungai Anap, and the boat was about 30 minutes from entering Sungai Kakus.”

Sikie, who described the incident as “extremely saddening”, said most of the victims were from families who worked at logging camps.

“When I heard about this at 6pm on Monday, I felt so helpless. I was in Kuching and there was not much I could do.”

He said the river was the only viable means of transport for most of his constituents.

“The logging roads are just too muddy and they don’t reach most longhouses.

“Boats are still the mode of transportation,” Sikie said.

Asked how many were onboard the ill-fated express boat, Sikie said: “That’s difficult to answer. I don’t think there was a record. Or if there was one, it might have been washed away by now.”

The township of Tatau is about 50km from Bintulu in the central region.

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