A search and rescue mission was underway on Wednesday (Dec 15) for 25 Indonesians missing after a boat capsized off Malaysia killing 11 people onbard, among them suspected undocumented migrants, maritime authorities said.
There were 14 people reported safe among the estimated 50 aboard the boat, which turned over in adverse weather off eastern Johor state around 4.30am.
Survivors and the boat were found on a beach in Tanjung Balau, according to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA).
“The boat was believed to have travelled from Indonesia and capsized after being hit by strong waves,” Johor maritime operations deputy director, Captain Simon Templer Lo Ak Tusa, told reporters.
All migrants involved were Indonesian, said the MMEA.
Coast guard chief Admiral Mohamad Zubil Mat Som said soldiers on patrol discovered the bodies of seven men and four women on the shore.
The Indonesian consulate in Johor said its representatives were on location to help identify and manage the remains of the victims.
The 14 survivors were taken into custody. Those missing are believed to have either gone into hiding or drowned, and authorities have deployed boats and an aircraft to seek them out.
Relatively affluent Malaysia is home to millions of migrants from the poorer parts of Asia, many of them undocumented, and they work in industries including construction and agriculture.
The accident is the latest in a string of disasters recorded in the waterways between Indonesia and Malaysia in recent years, often involving overloaded boats ferrying labourers seeking work in Malaysian factories and plantations.
According to Ms Anis Hidayah of Migrant CARE, a Jakarta-based non-government organisation, between 100,000 and 200,000 Indonesians travel illegally to Malaysia for work each year, many of them recruited by trafficking gangs and subjected to exploitation when they arrive.
“They travel to Malaysia by boat and there are so many accidents because they depart at night and arrive early in the morning,” she said, adding that boats often stop before reaching land to avoid detection and require those aboard to swim ashore.
Captain Simon, of the Malaysian maritime agency, urged migrants not to embark on such risky journeys.
“We would like to advise people, especially the undocumented migrants... to use valid routes to prevent such incidents from recurring,” he said.
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