Hull fatigue, navigation error blamed for loss of Royal Malaysian Navy patrol boat

The Royal Malaysian Navy has published a report detailing the probable causes of a maritime incident wherein one of the service's vessels sank in the Singapore Strait earlier this year.

The report stated that the patrol boat KD Pendekar had veered off course during a routine patrol southeast of Johor province at 15:54 local time on August 25, causing it to run aground. The hull then suffered a breach, which then led to water ingress and the vessel's eventual sinking the following morning.

Pendekar's entire crew complement of 39 were successfully rescued before the vessel became completely submerged. However, the subsequent salvage effort suffered a tragedy after one of the contracted divers perished while working at the incident site.

Pendekar was originally commissioned in 1979. Navy officials believe that, due to the vessel's age, the integrity of the hull had deteriorated to a point that controlling the resulting water ingress became more difficult for the crew.

A private company completed the salvage operation in October. A technical inspection is now underway partly to identify whether any other factors may have resulted in the vessel's loss.