Dozens missing in Malaysia after boat carrying migrants sinks
Authorities are searching for survivors after the migrant boat sunk near the Malaysia–Thailand border. (Reuters/Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency)
In short:
A boat carrying migrants has reportedly sunk, with seven dead, dozens missing and 13 people rescued.
The boat was carrying about 100 migrants, including Rohingya Muslims fleeing conflict, hunger and ethnic violence in Myanmar.
The vessel had departed from Myanmar's Rakhine state three days earlier.
A boat carrying dozens of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar has sunk near the Thai-Malaysian border, with hundreds missing, seven dead and 13 rescued, the Malaysian maritime agency said on Sunday.
Rescuers were combing an area of 170 square nautical miles near Langkawi island on Saturday after a boat with 300 people on board left Myanmar's Rakhine state three days earlier, the maritime agency head for the area, Romli Mustafa, said.
Police and the maritime agency said the passengers were believed to have been split into three smaller boats once the vessel neared Malaysia.
The timing and exact location of the incident was not known. The fate of the other two boats was also unclear, officials said.
Images from the agency showed one survivor covered with a sheet and another on a stretcher.
At least 13 people have so far been rescued. (Reuters/Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency)
Myanmar's impoverished Rakhine state has suffered years of conflict, hunger and ethnic violence mostly targeting the Rohingya Muslim minority community.
Driven out of Rakhine state following a brutal 2017 military crackdown, some 1.3 million Rohingya live as refugees in densely-packed camps in neighbouring Bangladesh.
Malaysian state media Bernama cited a local police chief as saying people initially boarded a large vessel from Myanmar but were instructed to transfer onto three smaller boats, each carrying about 100 people, to avoid detection as they neared Malaysia.
Facing violence at home in Myanmar and increasingly difficult living conditions in Bangladesh, Rohingya from both countries regularly attempt perilous journeys by sea, including to Malaysia.
More than 5,100 Rohingya have taken boats to leave Myanmar and Bangladesh between January and early November this year, with nearly 600 people reported dead or missing, according to data from the UN Refugee Agency.
AP/Reuters