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Three dead, eight missing, 16 safe in boat capsize incident in Daro BorneoPost Online | Borneo , Malaysia, Sarawak Daily News » Sabah - New 2 Borneo

Three dead, eight missing, 16 safe in boat capsize incident in Daro

Posted: 18 Jan 2014 12:38 AM PST

Posted on January 18, 2014, Saturday

DARO: Three people died when the boat they were in capsized at Kampung Kut at around noon today.

Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) confirmed that eight more people had gone missing from the boat that was carrying a wedding entourage from Kampung Saai to Kampung Tekajong.

Out of the 27 passengers, 16 are unharmed.

The Mukah and Sibu Bomba  are continuing their search and rescue operations.

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29 men charged for watching cock fighting

Posted: 17 Jan 2014 11:32 AM PST

Posted on January 18, 2014, Saturday

SARIKEI: A Bintangor magistrates' court on Thursday charged 29 men – who were present during an illegal cock fighting session in Kampung Bakung, Meradong near here last Nov 9 – under Section 3(1) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance 1962.

Twenty-six of them pleaded guilty to the charge and were fined RM250 each in default 10 days in prison as provided under Section 5(3) of the same Ordinance.

They paid the fine accordingly.

Meanwhile, two others who claimed trial were each released on RM2,000 bail in one surety pending the hearing scheduled for March 25.

The court also issued a warrant of arrest for one of the men who failed to appear in court.

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Report drug activities among family members — Roslan

Posted: 17 Jan 2014 11:32 AM PST

KUCHING: The public are urged to report drug abuse activities among family members or friends to the police so that action may be taken to prevent them from getting involved in crime to fund their addiction.

District police chief ACP Roslan Bek Ahmad said that based on recent arrests made over the past week, police discovered that all of the suspects involved were tested positive for drug abuse.

"We arrested a total of 14 suspects involved in four separate crimes between Jan 10 and 15. All of them tested positive for

Syabu, indicating the majority of crimes taking place in the district are committed by addicts as a way to fund their habit," he said during a press conference yesterday.

"I appeal to members of the community, if they know or suspect someone of being involved in taking drugs, to report the matter to us so that we can take immediate action," he added.

He also revealed that the overall crime index for the first 16 days of the year has declined by roughly 36 per cent compared to the same period last year.

According to him, the district police have yet to receive a single report of snatch theft so far this year, and have also recorded decreases in daytime house breaking (66 per cent), vehicle theft (28 per cent) and motorcycle theft (30 per cent).

"Even though it has only been 16 days into the year, the decline is a good sign for everyone. However, I urge the public to continue giving their support by channelling any crime-related information to us."

On the arrest of the 14 suspects, Roslan revealed that they were locals involved in break-ins and street robbery, each of whom possessed prior arrest records for similar offences.

Following the arrests, police were able to recover an estimated RM150,000 worth of stolen property, ranging from vehicles to electronic and electrical goods, and had remanded each suspect for between four to six days to facilitate further investigation.

Present with Roslan at press conference were district CID chief DSP Lim Bak Phai and district D7 officer-in-charge ASP Abdul Rahim Abdullah.

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Work together to improve facility, depts told

Posted: 17 Jan 2014 11:26 AM PST

MIRI: The Immigration Department must work together with the relevant departments to improve the road and surrounding areas at the former Sungai Tujuh Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) Centre.

Assistant Minister of Communications Datuk Lee Khim Shin stated this after visiting and inspecting the area yesterday following feedback posted by regular travellers on his Facebook about the condition of the road, abandoned buildings and unkempt landscape at the centre.

"These do not augur well with the image of Miri and the new centre, which recorded around 3 million visitors going in and out last year, making it is one of important gateways to Sarawak," he said.

Government departments and agencies must work together and co-operate with each other in solving problems or face the wrath of the public and users.

He commended the prompt action taken by Public Work Department to cover potholes on Thursday and decision to resurface the road.

"For a more effective upgrade and improvement to this facility, it is better for the Immigration Department to work together with relevant authorities such as Public Work Department and Miri City Council," he said.

"Immigration Departmet wants to demolish the structure but they need the help of Public Works Department on the design of the roads coming in and out from the entrance leading to the new CIQ," said Lee.

He also proposed that the department come out with cost to demolish the structure.

The co-operation will enable Immigration Department to present the headquarters with a budget for the cost of the project.

Apart from the improvements to road system and condition, he also proposed that a new arch be erected while the council could help in its landscaping.

To ease congestion and to avoid mad rush of visitors going back to Brunei during upcoming Chinese New Year celebration and other celebrations and holidays, Lee urged the Immigration Department to look into possibility of extending their operation hours to 12 midnight for three days prior to the celebration.

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Bomba chief: Stop making false ‘emergency’ calls

Posted: 17 Jan 2014 11:25 AM PST

KUCHING: The State Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) received an average of five false calls monthly last year, and this figure is significant as the average in 2012 was 1.58 cases.

As the issue of false calls is very serious on several fronts, state Bomba director Nor Hisham Mohammad has appealed to the public not to make such calls.

To those who had good intentions in alerting Bomba to emergency situations, Nor Hisham advised them to be very certain of the situation before making the distress call.

He stressed that false cases would not only cost Bomba time and energy of its personnel, but would also affect operating cost.

Worst still, he added, if the reported scene of the emergency is far away from the fire station, it would put the public and properties under its jurisdiction under jeopardy should a genuine emergency unfolded.

"Assuming that we respond to a call where the scene is located some one-hour drive from the responding station but we ended up with nothing, the unit would still have to thoroughly check the site to confirm that nothing happened before going back.

"During that time, the particular station would have zero protection for its township (jurisdiction). If anything happens during that period, we will have a big problem. A fire may happen right in front of a fire station but we might be unable to do anything if all response teams have been deployed," Nor Hisham told The Borneo Post when contacted yesterday.

He added that the rising number of false calls was cause for concern. There were 19 recorded cases in 2012, but the figure jumped to 60 last year.

Nor Hisham said this when asked to comment on media reports where Minister of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan lamented that about 99 per cent of the 2.8 million emergency calls made each month nationwide are false.

The calls over 999 were either made by silent callers or mischievous children, Abdul Rahman told a press conference during his working visit to the Malaysia Emergency Response Services' 999 (MERS 999) operation centre in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

Nor Hisham explained it was difficult to assess the genuineness of calls as they could either be made with good or bad intentions. MERS 999 would evaluate all calls before passing them to the respective emergency respond agencies.

Prank calls and hoaxes would immediately be handled by MERS.

"False calls are hard to determine because it always appears genuine. When the calls are transferred to the respective Bomba station, a respond unit would be sent out only for the team to end up with no incident to respond to when they reach the scene. These are what we deemed as false calls."

Examples include accidents that do not exist, and the burning of garbage or land clearing being reported as fires.

Before the implementation of MERS 999, he said all prank and hoax calls made via land line would be given a call-back for report confirmation.

The number of calls was frustrating as it prevented genuine calls from getting through.

Following the introduction of MERS, the number of prank calls in the

state had dropped significantly, he said.

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Flood forces 4 schools to close

Posted: 17 Jan 2014 11:25 AM PST

SIBU: Four schools in the central region were forced to close yesterday due to flooding.

The affected schools were SK Kuala Kenyana, Mukah; SK Bukit Balai, Sebauh; and Sibu schools SK Sungai Siong Tengah and SK Nanga Bon.

SK Nanga Bon reopened on Friday last week but had to close again yesterday as the access road was impassable.

"The access road is inundated compelling the school to close in the interest of the safety of pupils and teachers," said headmaster Joseph William.

The school has 83 pupils, 12 teachers and three non-teaching staff.

Cars and motorcycles had to be parked on the main road as the access road leading to SK Nanga Bon and a longhouse was completely flooded.

Some longhouse residents resorted to using a longboat to move around.

Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) Sibu chief Ting Sing Kwong said flooding on the access road could be due to a combination of its low level and the continuous downpour. Ting said property owners need to do some flood mitigation work themselves.

As for SK Sungai Siong Tengah, flood waters at the access road connecting to the school near a bridge was around two-feet deep and fast flowing, preventing staff from getting to the school.

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