The Malaysian Air Force had sent a Beechcraft aircraft to search for a missing navy vessel but heavy rain was hampering the search operation, local media reported on Monday.
A Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) combat vessel with seven onboard lost contact with an escort vessel during a voyage in the South China Sea, according to state news agency Bernama.
It quoted Chief of Navy Abdul Aziz Jaafar as saying that the CB90 type of combat vessel lost communication with the escort vessel KD Paus during a voyage in the South China Sea.
He said in a statement that the vessel left the RMN base in Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah, at 5 a.m. on Sunday and lost contact with the escort vessel at 11:15 a.m., adding that the incident occurred during bad weather in the region.
Abdul Aziz said a search operation had been carried out by RMN assets, the Royal Malaysian Air Force and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA).
He said that the crew of the seven people on the missing vessel was headed by Lt Azri Bakar.
The MMEA had assigned two vessels and a plane to assist the search and rescue operation, according to The Star, a local English-language newspaper.
Abdul Aziz said in his tweet account on Monday that MMEA had an AW139 aircraft ready at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport for the operation earlier in the day.