| Hakim Hayat & Lyna Mohammad |
TWO Bruneian women and two Malaysians died after two boats collided in the waters of Sungai Limpaku near the Brunei-Malaysia border yesterday.
The tragedy which occurred at 2.18pm involved a Brunei-registered passenger speedboat from the Temburong District with 20 passengers and a water taxi passenger from Limbang with six passengers.
The two Bruneians were travelling on the speedboat heading to Bandar Seri Begawan. Three other passengers of the boat were severely injured and the remaining 15 including the drivers suffered minor injuries.
A senior officer of Telekom Brunei Berhad (TelBru) was one of the fatalities.
Hajah Rosmawati binti Haji Abdul Manaf was on her way back to the capital after a working visit to the Temburong District.
The other victim, Sanah binti Lisa, 59, was to attend a birthday celebration of one of her grandchildren.
In an interview, one of the late Sanah’s daughters, Erny Marlina binti Duah told the Bulletin that her mother had texted her just before getting on the boat.
Erny said the granddaughter (her niece) was very attached to her mother and she had said her grandmother must attend her birthday celebration.
Erny arrived at the jetty to pick her mother at about 2pm but she and a few others at the jetty became anxious after an hour passed by the arrival schedule with no sign of the boat.
The jetty staff members were also unable to explain what had happened as they could not contact any of the boat drivers.
There was a moment of panic until they received news about the accident that went viral on WhatsApp.
Erny then started texting her siblings until she received a WhatsApp message showing a screenshot of the list of passengers and saw her mother’s name and three others were marked.
She asked about the markings but there were unable to explain until a second photo was received stating that two had died. That was when she realised one of the covered body was her mother’s.
A search by Erny and her siblings revealed that the bodies of the two Bruneians were at the Limbang Hospital.
According to Erny, her family will take their mother’s body to Mengkubau for religious rituals and will have her laid to rest at the Pulaie Muslim Cemetery.
Based on witness account, the Temburong speedboat was on the other side of the river and the water taxi from Limbang reportedly was speeding before the collision.
Meanwhile, the Maritime and Ports Authority of Brunei Darussalam (PBMP) confirmed that the accident occurred at the T-junction of Sungai Limpaku near the Limbang, Sarawak border.
When the accident occurred, the Brunei passenger speedboat was travelling from Pekan Bangar, Temburong to Bandar Seri Begawan.
The bodies of the two Malaysian passengers reported missing were found at 5.40pm and the search and rescue operation ended at 6pm.
The search and rescue operation involved several government and private agencies including the Royal Brunei Police Marine, Fire and Rescue Department, Brunei Shell Petroleum, Royal Malaysian Police Force, Malaysian Fire Marshall (RELA), and the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department.
Present to oversee the operation and talk to the families of the victims yesterday was the Minister of Communications Dato Seri Setia Awang Abdul Mutalib bin Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Setia Dato Paduka Haji Mohammad Yusof.