Scores of visitors to Langkawi stranded

ALOR STAR (Malaysia), Oct 3 (Bernama) -- Scores of visitors to Langkawi were stranded for hours at the Kuala Kedah jetty yesterday evening and this morning because the ferries were not keeping to the schedule.

A Bernama survey found that not only had the passengers to wait for hours
but they were also not given an explanation as to why the ferries were running
late.

Of the eight ferry operators plying the route, only four were running the
service because of the Hari Raya holidays, leading to fewer trips, and the
problem was compounded by the surge in the number of holidaymakers to the
island.

A passenger, Abdul Rashid Osman, 50, from Kota Kuala Muda, said he was
stranded for four hours and the ferry operators did not even care about the
comfort of the passengers.

"I'm very disappointed at being stranded for four hours without being
informed of what was going on," he said Thursday.

An engineer from Kuala Lumpur, Azhari Shaari, 37, said the operators'
conduct had embarrassed the country because there were foreign tourists who had
had to wait for nearly five hours for a ferry.


Azhari said not a single company representative was there to explain the
delays and the passengers, some of whom had brought their families, were left
exhausted, hungry and thirsty.

Mohd Nor Aizi Mohd Shazali, 55, from Kelana Jaya, said he and his five
family members arrived at the jeetty at 1pm but had to wait until 5pm to get on
board a ferry.

Meanwhile, Hussin Hasan, manager of one of the ferry operators, Koperasi
Ferry Line Ventures Sdn Bhd, said his company provided 48 ferries to ferry the
passenger between 7.15am and 7pm during Hari Raya but several other companies
had shirked their responsibility, causing chaos to the schedule.

However, the situation returned to normal around noon Friday after the
number
of ferries was increased.

-- BERNAMA