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AT least nine people have drowned and 26 others are missing after a boat carrying Indonesian migrants sank off Malaysia, officials said. Fishermen recovered the bodies of a man and a woman, believed to be from the boat, floating near the mouth of the Sungai Langat river in the town of Kuala Langat, 45 kilometres west of Kuala Lumpur, said Jazlizad Jalil, from a local fire and rescue department. More bodies — six male and one female — were recovered by rescuers at sea, according to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA).
Sixty-two people were rescued after the accident, which occurred before dawn about three kilometres from the coast, the agency added.
MMEA official Ibrahim Mohamed said the wooden fishing boat was believed to be heading for the Indonesian province of Aceh, whose nearest point is about 400 kilometres from the coast of Kuala Langat.
“A survivor said the boat was overloaded and began taking in water after it was battered by huge waves, causing it to sink,” Ibrahim said.
“It’s difficult to speculate on the fate of the missing since the accident happened near the shore, so some of them could have swum to safety.
“We will just continue our search and hope to recover more survivors.”
The Indonesian workers were returning home to celebrate the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a source at the MMEA said.
An Interior Ministry official says of the estimated 1.5 million undocumented migrant workers in Malaysia, more than half are from Indonesia and many make the journey between the two countries on rickety wooden boats in search of employment.
“Most of these illegal Indonesian workers are working as maids, helpers in restaurants, or in palm oil and rubber plantations,” he said.
Malaysia has a high demand for Indonesian labour migrants, the International Office of Migration said, “and is highly dependent on their contribution to its development and industrialisation”. — AAP.
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