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The boat, which
maritime officials estimated had about 70 people aboard, had
left Sabak Bernam in Malaysia's western state of Selangor for
Sumatra in neighboring Indonesia when the accident happened.
Initial conversations with survivors led officials to believe
the passengers were Indonesian, said Muhammad Aliyas Hamdan, an
official of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA).
"If they are legal, they would not leave (the country) that
way," Muhammad said, when asked if the people were illegal
migrants. The boat sank due to overloading and bad weather, he
added.
Thousands of migrants from Indonesia work at construction sites,
on palm plantations, in factories and domestic service across
Malaysia, some without legal employment documents.
The number of survivors stood at 19, the agency's director of
search and rescue operations, Captain Robert Teh Geok Chuan,
told Reuters, including 15 rescued by fishermen earlier, though
the death toll could rise.
"We fear the casualty numbers will rise as it's been several
hours since the boat sank," he added.
Search operations would continue through the night, Teh said,
with ships, boats and a helicopter deployed in the hunt for
survivors. Indonesia's search and rescue agency said it was on
standby to assist its Malaysian counterpart.
Southeast Asia faced a huge migrant crisis after Thailand
cracked down on people-smuggling gangs in May, with more than
4,000 people landing in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Myanmar, and Thailand. Hundreds are believed to have drowned.
A fresh surge of refugees and migrants from Myanmar and
Bangladesh is expected to set out in boats for southeast Asia
when the monsoon season ends in about a month, the United
Nations has said.
Thursday's accident happened as Europe faces its biggest refugee
crisis since World War Two, and has yet to find a common
response. Thousands of people from the Middle East, Asia and
Africa have died making the journey across the Mediterranean and
on land in Europe.
(Additional reporting by by Cindy Silviana and Fergus Jensen;
Writing by Praveen Menon; Editing by Nick Macfie and Clarence
Fernandez)
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