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Families remain hopeful that missing tugboat crew are safe
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Family members of the five crew who are believed to have been abducted from their tugboat in the waters off Tambisan, Lahad Datu yesterday are praying and hoping that they are safe.

The tugboat which was heading to Semporna from Sandakan was found abandoned with its engine running.

Hasmiah Lahap, 50, the mother of one of the missing crew, Fandy Bakran, 26, said when met today at her house in Kampung Pukat, Tanjung Batu in Tawau, that her son came home on Monday (July 11) before setting sail again yesterday.

“He is my youngest child and has been working with the company since August last year.

“I was informed about his disappearance and other crew members on the tugboat by his friends,” she said.

According to her, the family upon receiving the news tried to contact Fandy by handphone but received no response although there was a ringing tone.

“By midnight, we were no longer able to connect with Fandy’s handphone,” she said.

Meanwhile, Sutini Jamalung, 54, the wife of another crew member, Abd Rahim Summas, 66, said her husband last contacted her around 8am yesterday to speak to their four-year-old granddaughter Ameliah Rusli.

“Rahim is very close to Ameliah. He would call her every day to ask how she was,” said Sutini, who has a health problem.

She added that her husband had been working with the company for about four years.

Abd Rahim’s second daughter, Hasnawati, 39, said she was informed of the matter by her father’s colleague who was on another tugboat which spotted the tugboat that her father was on.

She said her father’s employer contacted her around 9.38am today, claiming that he was being detained by a group at Basilan Island in Southern Philippines which had demanded a certain amount of ransom.

(Police have yet to make a confirmation on the case.)

Abd Rahim has five sons and two daughters and the tugboat crew were all related except for Fandy.

- Bernama

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