Malaysian navy boat, all nine crew found safe

[KUALA LUMPUR] Nine Malaysian navy crew members missing for almost four days have been found safe, officials said, after their small craft vanished during an anti-poaching mission.

"A navy ship found the boat and the nine personnel safe early Tuesday. They were in the company of two local fishing boats, some 87 nautical miles east of Gelang Cape (off the southern Johor state)," the navy said in a statement.

The nine Royal Malaysian Navy crew members, who had been missing since Saturday off the southern state of Johor near Singapore, had earlier been spotted by an airforce plane.

Malaysia had deployed 11 ships and two helicopters to search for the naval craft.

The small boat, from the warship KD Perdana, disappeared in calm waters off Cape Sedili in Johor during an operation to chase away illegal foreign fishing boats from Malaysia's rich fishing grounds.

AFP