Samsulkamal Abdul Latip and Ashwad Ismail
All the 12 Malaysians on board the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara are unhurt and several countries have offered their assistance to help secure their release, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman said today.
The ship was in a convoy of six vessels bound for Gaza with humanitarian aid for the Palestinians when they were raided by Israeli commandos on yesterday morning. At least nine people were reported killed and several hurt.
Anifah said Turkey, Jordan, Ireland and the Philippines, which have missions in Tel Aviv, have offered to bring them out of Israel either by land or air.
"Our embassy in Ankara has officially asked the Turkey government to bring the Malaysians there," he told reporters at KL International Airport on his return from the 2nd Asean-Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) meeting in Singapore.
Anifah also clarified that there were 18 Malaysians in the fortilla and not 17 as previously reported, including six on board the Malaysian ship Rachel Corrie, which has yet to reach Gaza.
Eleven on the Mavi Marmara named earlier were Noorazman Mohd Shamsuddin, Dr Mohd Arba Ai Shawal, Dr Syed Mohd Haleem Syed Hassan, Dr Selamat Aliman, Jamaluddin Elias, Al Hilmi Husain Suhaimi, Mohd Nizam Mohd Awang, Abd Halim Mohd Redzuan, Hasanuddin Aqsi Assarip, Ashwad Ismail (Astro Awani journalist) and Shamsul Kamal Latip (Astro Awani cameraman).
The person left out was Mustafa Mansur, of the Islamic Organisation Consultative Council of Malaysia (MAPIM).
The other six on the Rachel Corrie, representing the Perdana Global Peace Organisation (PGPO), were Matthias Chang, Shamsul Akmar Musa Kamal, Mohd Nizar Zakaria (Parit MP), Halim Mohamed (TV3 reporter) and Mohd Jufri Judin (TV3 cameraman).
"Wisma Putra is still liaising with other countries to ascertain whether there are other Malaysians involved," he said.
On the meeting in Singapore, Anifah said the foreign ministers issued a joint statement condemning the Israeli raid and act of violence in international waters.
They also expressed their condolences to families of the dead, and solidarity with the people and government of Turkey and other countries.
"The ministers urged the immediate release of those still held hostage by the Israeli authorities and called for the removal of the Israeli blockade in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions, in particular Security Council Resolution 1860," he said.
