The operation will resume tomorrow morning.

Search and recovery (SAR) teams had located the car some 15m underwater, close to Pier 34 of the bridge near Perai, at about 4pm today.

Marine Police Region 1 commander Rosman Ismail said the operation to lift the car from the sea using a crane began at 6pm but was called off at 7.30pm.

“The rescuers tried four times to retrieve the car but had to stop as they were hampered by poor visibility, strong currents and choppy seas,” he told reporters at the location.

He said the strong currents also caused the cable used to lift the car to snap a few times.

Rosman said PLUS had advised them to resume the operation at 9am tomorrow to avoid congestion on the bridge as it is a working day.

“Our rescue boats will be at the scene by 7am,” he said.

The Mazda CX-5 SUV, believed to driven by college student Moey Yun Peng, 20, plunged into the sea after another car collided into it at KM4 of the bridge at 2.54am yesterday.