The search for two Chinese tourists who went missing at Mantanani Besar Island, a dive island off Sabah’s coast in Malaysia, has been called off after a futile scouring for the couple for over a week, including the use of drones, boats and ground patrols.
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Yu Xiaopeng, 25, and his girlfriend, Fan Qin, 28, checked into the Sutera Mantanani Resort on October 4 and were due to leave the next day.
But they failed to check out, leaving their belongings untouched in the room. A sweeping search for the missing couple in the vicinity of the island followed after the resort’s security alerted the police.
Unconfirmed reports in Malaysian news said the couple had been snorkelling before their disappearance. A pair of spectacles, thought to belong to one of them, was later found on a beach in the island’s northern area.
Superintendent Shahrudin Mat Husain, Kota Belud district police chief, said the joint search and rescue operation, which covered land, sea and air, was officially called off at 10am on Sunday, after rescuers combed the island and surrounding waters without success.
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“After a comprehensive assessment of all search areas, no new clues were found,” Shahrudin said in a statement on Sunday evening. “However, patrols and monitoring along the west coast up to northern Kudat will continue from time to time.”