Tourists urged to book tour packages with legit operators following drowning case

KOTA KINABALU: Those planning to spend their holidays in Sabah have been advised to secure their tour packages with tour operators who are registered with the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry (Motac).

State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew issued the reminder following a suspected drowning incident involving a Chinese tourist at Mengalum Island, some 56km northwest of the Sabah capital, last Saturday (May 11).

Liew said the incident involved a Chinese national identified as Zhang Tian Long, 34.

She said it was understood that the deceased and his wife Wang Cui Cui, 32, who were married recently, had purchased a Mengalum day tour from an app prior to the incident.

“They were then handled by a local tour operator while holidaying in Sabah,” she added, in a statement here on Wednesday (May 15).

Wang, a nurse, was waiting on the Mengalum beach for her husband to return from his snorkelling leisure activity when the said incident happened in the middle of the sea.

Liew, who is currently on an official trip overseas, also emphasised the need for tourist boats to be well-equipped with life-saving tools, such as life jackets, first aid kits, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) equipment in case of emergencies.

On Tuesday (May 14), the minister’s political secretary Vivien Lee, who represented Liew, as well as Sabah Tourism Board marketing manager Aboni Loong visited the wife of the deceased at a hotel here where she was staying.

STB assured Wang that the agency under the state tourism ministry would do its best to render assistance.

The duo assisted the wife in contacting the funeral parlour for documentation and funeral arrangements for the deceased.

A distraught Wang, who had lodged a report on the incident with the police, told Lee and Loong that she would initiate legal action against the ground handler.