KUANTAN: A military commando who went missing during a diving exercise at Kuantan Port on Thursday has been found drowned, nearly 48 hours after the incident.
The body of Corporal Mohd Haswansir Julnasir, 30, was discovered around 10am today, washed up on a rocky embankment about 300 metres from where he was last seen.
Acting Kuantan district police chief, Superintendent Mohd Adli Mat Daud, said the victim's body was found fully clad in his diving gear.
According to initial reports, the incident occurred while the victim was diving with three other commandos in the port area as part of a scuba training exercise.
He said the divers had descended into the water using a safety rope as a guide.
"Shortly after the four commandos began their dive, one of them is believed to have become detached from the safety line and was swept away by the current.
"His disappearance was only noticed when just three divers resurfaced after the training session at about 12.15pm on Thursday," he said in a statement today.
It is understood that fellow commandos who were part of the training immediately initiated a search and rescue attempt but were unsuccessful.
Following this, Mohd Adli said police received a report on the missing commando at 3.19pm that same day, and a search and rescue (SAR) operation was launched involving personnel from the police, fire and rescue department, and the armed forces.
He said the victim's body has since been sent to Tengku Ampuan Afzan Hospital (HTAA) here for post-mortem.
Mohd Haswansir was attached to the 22nd Regiment based at Kem Iskandar in Mersing, Johor, and had been scheduled to undergo training in Kuantan from June 30 to July 9.
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