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No less than 11 folks had been killed after a ship carrying Indonesian refugees capsized in stormy winter climate within the South China Sea off the coast of Malaysia.
Round 25 individuals are nonetheless lacking, Malaysian authorities mentioned.
The boat with 50 migrants on board sank round 4.30am on Wednesday off the coast of Tanjung Balau in southeastern Malaysia, introduced the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Company.
The maritime company rescued 14 folks following a search and rescue mission. The survivors and the boat had been discovered on a seaside in Tanjung Balau together with passengers’ private belongings like photos, wallets, baggage and garments.
The survivors had been taken to a Malaysian armed forces submit in Kota Tinggi, whereas the useless our bodies — seven males and 4 males — had been handed to forensic specialists for postmortem examinations.
In the meantime, the seek for extra survivors is being carried out by means of drones and sea routes in a joint operation by the Malaysian armed forces, the fast response pressure staff and the Royal Navy.
Johor maritime operations deputy director Captain Simon Templer Lo Ak Tusa informed reporters that every one these on board had been Indonesians.
“The boat was believed to have travelled from Indonesia and capsized after being hit by sturdy waves,” he mentioned, urging migrants to not embark on such dangerous journeys. “We want to advise folks, particularly the undocumented migrants… to make use of legitimate routes to forestall such incidents from recurring.”
The Indonesian consulate in Johor mentioned that its representatives had been on the website of the accident to assist determine and handle the stays of the victims.
The accident follows a string of such incidents within the harmful oceans between Indonesia and Malaysia lately, usually involving overloaded boats carrying migrants and labourers, looking for a greater life in Malaysia. Lots of them additionally contain the Rohingya ethnic group from Myanmar who’ve confronted years of persecution.
Yearly, round 100,000 to 200,000 Indonesians journey illegally to Malaysia and plenty of of them find yourself being recruited by trafficking gangs and subjected to exploitation, in line with Anis Hidayah of Migrant CARE, a Jakarta-based non-government organisation.
“They journey to Malaysia by boat and there are such a lot of accidents as a result of they depart at night time and arrive early within the morning,” she mentioned, including that boats usually cease earlier than reaching land to keep away from detection and require these aboard to swim ashore.
Further reporting by companies
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