Fatalities after wooden boat with 100 migrants onboard capsizes off Malaysia

[Otherside]

Fatalities after wooden boat with 100 migrants onboard capsizes off Malaysia

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 03 September, 2015, 4:29pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 03 September, 2015, 4:29pm

Agence France-Presse

Two rescued migrant men standing next to a boat in Bayuen, Indonesia's East Aceh province. File photo: AFP

A wooden boat carrying about 100 migrants heading to Indonesia has capsized off Malaysia's western coast, the country's maritime agency said, adding there were an unknown number of fatalities.

Agency official Mohamad Hambali Yaakup said 12 people have been rescued so far, and several bodies have been recovered by fishermen but he could not give further details.

He said the boat sank Thursday morning in bad sea conditions not far from the coast and several vessels and an aircraft were searching for survivors.

Mohamad Hambali said the boat was believed to have taking migrant workers home to Tanjung Balai in Indonesia's Sumatra province and that it was likely to have been overcrowded when it sank.

Such incidents are common in Malaysia, which has up to two million Indonesian migrants working illegally in the country.

The Indonesians work without legal permits in plantations and other industries in Malaysia, and often travel between the countries by crossing the narrow Strait of Malacca in poorly equipped boats.