THREE women were killed when two boats collided in waters off Pangkor, near the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) base, at about 9pm yesterday.

Manjung district police chief Nor Omar Sappi said the identity of victims, aged between 26 and 43, who were pronounced dead at the Navy Hospital in Lumut, had yet to be ascertained.

He said a search-and-rescue mission was mounted after a report on the collision was lodged at 9.17pm yesterday.

The search was conducted with the collaboration of the Fire and Rescue Department in Manjung and RMN, he said.

“Preliminary investigations found that one of the boats was carrying 17 passengers with a skipper on its way from Lumut to Pangkor, while the other boat was carrying a skipper and a passenger from the opposite direction,” he said in a statement.

“As a result of the collision, 10 passengers were thrown into the sea and they were rescued by the two skippers and taken to hospital for treatment.”

Nor Omar said three of the victims died while a 43-year-old victim was still in the intensive care unit. The others were given outpatient treatment.

He said the bodies had been sent to Seri Manjung Hospital for post-mortems.

Nor Omar urged those who witnessed the collision or with information on the incident to contact the police to assist in the investigation. – Bernama, March 7, 2023.