Three couples who survived the last Saturday's ferry tragedy in Tioman are considering legal action against the ferry operator as well as the government for alleged negligence, after two relatives drowned.

At a press conference today, the couples insisted on compensation from the Transport Ministry, Johor government, Marine Department, a local tour agency and the ferry operator - Seagull Express and Accommodation Sdn Bhd.

"We want (Transport Minister) Chan Kong Choy to compensate us for allowing such a tragedy to occur," Ng Soon Tiong, 41, and a father of three, told reporters at the DAP headquarters in Petaling Jaya today.

On Saturday, the Seagull Express 2 - carrying 104 passengers - caught fire and sank at 1.30pm while heading towards Pulau Tioman from Mersing. Four people died while three remain missing.

The couples, who are related to one another, had taken seven children with them. Sharing life-jackets, they were in the open sea for about 30 minutes before being rescued by passing boats.

The two family members who drowned were related to Ng - Hong See Tiew, 53, and his wife The Siew Lian, 52, from Klang.

A legal suit is likely to be lodged after authorities complete their investigation into the incident, said lawyer Lim Lip Eng who is representing the couples.

"We don't know who is in charge now, we are waiting until the results are out. But I want to say that there are a lot of parties that are vicariously libel to negligence suits," he said.

Lim blamed the Marine department for not enforcing the rules and for allowing the ferry to continue operating. The ferry is reportedly not insured and had its operating licence terminated last December.

Delay 'unacceptable'

DAP central executive member Ronnie Liu, who was at the press conference, also blamed the fire and rescue services department and marine police for not having enough personnel to carry out a quick rescue operation.

Most of the 94 survivors were rescued by passing boats.

"The authorities should made sure they had enough men. The sea was calm that day and the sinking happened during the day. There's no reason why they should take so long," he said.

Tan Chee Hee, 28, who works as an electrician, said ferry operators offered little in the way of assistance following the sinking.

"We only saw officials from the company after 10pm. There was no apology or anything. They didn't even offer help," he claimed.

His wife, Silvia Lucas, said there was not enough life-jackets to go around and that her sons, Terry and Tango, were the few passengers with life-jackets.

"All the adults did not have life-jackets. All the jackets were used on the children," she said.


Malaysiakini published this letter from a letter last year
A Tioman disaster waiting to happen