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Authorities to stop searching for missing Australian citizen on Friday
The National Border Management Agency (BNPP) said it would continue its search for John Cullen, 81, an Australian national and passenger of the Sun Princess cruise ship, who reportedly fell from the ship into the water off of Bintan, Riau Islands, until Friday.
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Searching: Authorities continue its operations to search for John Cullen, 81, an Australian national and passenger of Sun Princess cruise who reportedly fell from the ship on Saturday into waters of Bintan, Riau Islands. (Courtesy of AAP Princess Cruises/File)
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he National Border Management Agency (BNPP) said on Saturday it would continue its search for John Cullen, 81, an Australian national and passenger of the Sun Princess cruise ship, who reportedly fell from the ship into the water off of Bintan, Riau Islands, until Friday.
BNPP Tanjung Pinang head Budi Cahyadi said as of Tuesday, or the fourth day after Cullen was reported missing, the team had not yet found anything.
"The search operation will end on Friday. It is based on our search and rescue procedure, in which a rescue operation lasts for one week,” Budi said.
Cullen reportedly fell from the Sun Princess ship when the 77,441-gross-tonnage cruise ship was heading to Port Klang in Malaysia after it departed from Fremantle, Australia, on May 13. It was sailing through international waters off Bintan island when crew members discovered that Cullen had been missing.
For several hours, the ship crew members strove to find Cullen with their lifeboats but they did not find anything. They then decided to report the incident to BNPP.
"Sun Princess continued their trip to Port Klang in Malaysia that day,” Budi said.
Until now, Budi said, he had not yet received any information from the ship's crew members on what had caused the incident. "We don’t know whether he slipped,” Budi said. (hol/ebf)
