1st LD Writhru: Missing Chinese national, Spanish tourists found safe on board fishing boats: Malaysian officials

The Four people, including a Chinese national and two Spanish tourists who went missing at sea in Malaysia's eastern Sabah state, were found safe after being picked up by Vietnamese fishermen, Malaysian maritime officials said Thursday.

Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency director-general Ahmad Puzi Kahar told Xinhua that the four were drifting at sea before being rescued by Vietnamese fishing trawlers that were passing by.

Malaysia has been in contact with the Vietnamese authorities on the arrangement to get back the four people, he said.

China's Consulate-General in Kota Kinabalu, the state capital of Sabah, confirmed to Xinhua that the Chinese national had been rescued, saying he had made contact with his family.

Sabah regional maritime director Mohd Zubil Mat Som said the four were safe and in good health. He told a press conference that Malaysia's navy and maritime agency vessels had been dispatched to take them back to Sabah.

The four people, including one Chinese, two Spanish tourists and a local went went missing on May 2 when they travelled on a speedboat in Sabah Kudat area but failed to arrive at the destination.

China's Consulate-General said earlier that the missing Chinese citizen was from China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and was operating a vacation resort in Sabah. Enditem