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SINGAPORE \u2013 Eight members of a Singaporean family on a mangrove tour in Bintan on May 31 were thrown overboard when the speedboat they were on flipped over.<\/p>\n
This led to their being trapped underneath the overturned boat, as strong currents and the high tide made their escape harder. Even after they managed to swim away from the boat, they had to endure a harrowing wait in the water, with their ordeal lasting about an hour before they were all finally rescued.<\/p>\n
Sharifah Aminah Syed Ali told The Straits Times that her family of 28 people had split up into three groups on separate speedboats for the tour operated by BAP Tour & Travel. The boat that she was on carried the most passengers \u2013 10 people, including the tour guide and the boat driver.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe boat appeared overloaded, but we were assured by the guide and boat driver that it was safe,\u201d said the 24-year-old business owner. The boats then departed on the tour under dark skies, as it began to drizzle.<\/p>\n
But 30 minutes into the journey, which was scheduled to last at least an hour, all three boats were instructed to turn back due to rain that had become heavier, said Sharifah, noting that rainwater had also begun to accumulate in the boat she was in.<\/p>\n
As the fast-moving boat she was on turned a corner, it capsized in the middle of the river, Sharifah said, trapping everyone on board underneath the overturned vessel.<\/p>\n
Her boat was last of the three on the journey back and the accident occurred about five minutes after they last saw the boat in front of them, she added.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the capsize, we could not see anything because it was dark underneath, and the salt water made it painful to open our eyes,\u201d she said. \u201cWe had to feel our way along the sides of the boat to find an escape route, as the boat was too heavy to lift.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sharifah and five family members managed to escape within seconds of the boat overturning.<\/p>\n
Another relative, Sayyid Muhammad Fariid Syed Amzah Alsagoff, who was carrying his six-month-old baby, was able to escape from under the boat after about a minute. He struggled to hold his baby with one arm as he reached for the mangrove trees with the other, while also fighting the current, she said.<\/p>\n
Sharifah\u2019s brother and his nine-year-old daughter, meanwhile, took the longest to escape and were trapped under the boat for about four minutes, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were desperately trying to flip the boat over, but the strong current, high tide, and heavy rain made it nearly impossible,\u201d said Sharifah. \u201cMy brother later shared that they were gasping for air and that my niece was close to losing consciousness underwater.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two eventually escaped after her brother pushed his daughter downwards and to safety \u2013 the life jackets they had worn made it difficult for them to slip out from beneath the boat \u2013 before he, too, escaped.<\/p>\n
All of them managed to climb onto the mangrove trees and waited for about 40 minutes until a boat returned to check on them.<\/p>\n
All of them were unhurt, save for some minor injuries.<\/p>\n
Sharifah said they suffered losses amounting to around $8,000, including four iPhones, wallets, identification and bank cards, and car keys.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we are grateful that everyone survived, we believe this incident raises serious concerns about passenger safety, operator qualifications, emergency preparedness and accountability,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She said that while the family was taken to the departure point via a large boat, they were not informed that they would be transported on smaller speedboats for the mangrove tour.<\/p>\n
They also later found out that the operators did not possess the required licence to conduct the tour, and that the tour guide could not swim.<\/p>\n
The marine police also told them that the area where they had capsized was known to have crocodiles, snakes and other dangerous wildlife.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe emotional trauma will stay with us forever,\u201d wrote Sharifah in a video posted on Threads on June 3.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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SINGAPORE \u2013 Eight members of a Singaporean family on a mangrove tour in Bintan on May 31 were thrown overboard when the speedboat they were…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=58210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/58211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=58210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=58210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=58210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}