Six members of a family drowned last Thursday during a Hindu prayer ceremony out at sea, off the coast of Bagan Sungai Kajang in Selangor.
The family was in an overloaded fishing boat three miles offshore to seek the blessings of the Hindu sea god Lord Varuna on the occasion of 27-year old Jaya Sangkari Gnanasegaran’s betrothal, which was supposed to have taken place the day after.
Jaya Sangkari, her mother M Gnaswdree, 59, and three other relatives – her uncle M Kunasegaran, 57, his wife A Muniamah, 49, their son K Logaraj, 29 – along with the organiser of the boating trip A Pakianathan, perished in the 6.45pm incident when the boat capsized.
Emmanuel Santa Maria Chin, writing for the print edition of the Malay Mail reports that Jaya Sangkari’s brother, 24-year old Shankar, is still missing.
Two of her cousins, C Sathyah, 25, and V Nagaswari, 30, and the four boatmen – N Sanmugan, S Alumalai, C Sundraja and S Partiven – were rescued by passing fishermen after clinging for hours to the half-submerged boat.
Kuala Selangor police chief Superintendent Mohd Taib Ahmad said the PDRM was investigating claims that the boat was not seaworthy, and that the man at its helm was not qualified for the task.
The boat also reportedly only had two life jackets on board.
“We will be investigating the case as sudden death and will look into questions about the condition of the boat and the ability of the owner to take it to sea,” Mohd Taib said.
