He said based on the initial report, the Sabah Parks rangers and dive marshals were conducting a beach clean-up when they noticed drift net buoys from the Barracuda Point to the Hanging Garden dive site.

Upon inspection, they found a 900m-long drift net being caught among the corals in the water.

Efforts to remove the drift net were immediately carried out by divers from tourism operators such as Seahorse Scuba Sdn Bhd, Dive Semporna and Borneo Jungle.