SANDAKAN: Eleven Filipino crew members from a sinking wooden cargo boat were rescued by Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) off Kinabatangan waters.
The MMEA earlier received information of a vessel in distress and sent a patrol boat to the rescue.
They located the partially submerged boat at about 10am and managed to transfer all those on board to the MMEA patrol boat.
The rescued Filipino crew members arrived at the MMEA base here at about 5.55pm, according to MMEA Maritime District 17 deputy director for operations, Commander Khairualanuar Abd Majid.
It was learnt the vessel named MV Lady Joanna with its cargo of 16,000 sacks of rice and 1,000 sacks of sugar had set sail from Sandakan to return to the Southern Philippines port on Monday afternoon.
It encountered engine problem near the Malaysian-Philippine border and drifted back into waters off Kinabatangan.
The crewmen sent out a distress call on Tuesday morning after a futile attempt to save the vessel from sinking.
