At least 14 people – including 13 women – have drowned after a boat carrying around 70 Indonesians capsized in the Strait of Malacca, Malaysian maritime authorities said on Thursday.
A member of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) told the Guardian the boat was found off the coast of Selangor state on the western side of Malaysia.
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. “We fear the casualty numbers will rise as it’s been several hours since the boat sank,” he added.
Another employee for the MMEA, based in Selangor, told the Guardian that the rescue operation had reported 13 people had already died. He said the boat was carrying around 70 Indonesians, but could not confirm if they were migrants or asylum seekers.
“We don’t have that information at this time,” he said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the press.
Indonesians make up the majority of the roughly two million people who Malaysia says are there illegally, many of them arriving by paying people traffickers.
The region has also suffered a human smuggling crisis as thousands of refugees from Myanmar and migrants from Bangladesh have tried to make the perilous trip to Malaysia and Thailand by boat.
Earlier this year, thousands of Burmese and Bangladeshis were stranded at sea when the people smugglers in control of the ships abandoned them following a crackdown on illegal detention camps on the mainland. The crackdown made it harder for smugglers to continue a practice in which they bring those fleeing ashore and then hold them captive for ransom.
More than 1,000 people are unaccounted for this year, according to the United Nations. Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian authorities have also turned away people fleeing by boat.
It is rare for people to attempt the dangerous journey this late in the year as the stormy weather and rough seas make the already dangerous crossing much riskier.
