Malaysian navy vessel sinks after hitting unknown object, all 39 crew members rescued

A fast attack craft belonging to the Malaysian navy sank off the Johor coast on Sunday (Aug 25).

The KD Pendekar first detected a leak in its engine room after hitting an unknown underwater object at noon that day, the Royal Malaysian Navy said in a statement.

Despite the crew's best efforts to control and stabilise the vessel, it experienced "severe flooding" and was completely submerged by 3.54pm. 

All 39 crew members were rescued before the ship sank, and there were no reported injuries, the Malaysian Navy said. The crew members were later taken to a hospital in Johor.

"Efforts to save the ship through salvage operations are still underway," they added.

On Monday, Malaysia's Defence Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin ordered an inspection of navy ships that are over 40 years old, Harian Metro reported.

"We do not deny that (some of) our ships are old but that is not likely to be one of the causes... and the important thing is that thankfully no lives were lost," Khaled said.

According to The Star, the KD Pendekar was commissioned into the Malaysian fleet in July 1979.

Measuring 43.6m in length, it is armed with a Bofors 57mm main gun and a Bofors 40mm secondary gun, as well as anti-ship missiles.

Investigations to determine the cause of the incident are ongoing, said the Malaysian navy. 

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chingshijie@asiaone.com