Man tries to swim from Malaysia to Mecca
28-year-old rescued by Malaysian police after jumping into sea to begin 7,000km swim
Abu Dhabi: Malaysian police rescued a 28-year-old Malaysian man after he attempted to swim the nearly 7,000km from Malaysia to Mecca.
He was taken to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation, local media reported.
Video footage and photographs of the incident have gone viral on social media in Malaysia.
Police said the young man was detained before taken to the hospital, as he said he had intended to swim to Mecca.
In his second attempt in three weeks, it was not immediately known why the man wished to swim to the holy city in Saudi Arabia.
The police said that a drug test was also conducted on the young man, but it came back negative.
The same young man had previously jumped into the sea from the same spot on July 12, trying to meet a friend in another area in Malaysia after failing to obtain approval for inter-district travel, only to be rescued by Penang Port Sdn Bhd workers after he gave up mid-way.
Police said after his first long-distance swim attempt, the man was taken to a psychiatric hospital and checks showed he suffered mental problems.
His parents took him to undergo treatment for drug addiction at the National Anti-Drug Agency.