Boat carrying 70 migrants sinks off Malaysia
Malaysian officials say a wooden boat crammed with migrant workers headed back to Indonesia has capsized, leaving at least 14 people dead.
First Adm. Mohamad Aliyas Hamdan, the district chief of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, says the boat was believed to be carrying 70 people and not 100 as thought earlier, wsj.com reports.
He said among the confirmed dead so far are 13 women and a man.
He said the boat capsized Thursday off Malaysia’s western coast, and 19 people have been rescued.
Agency official Mohamad Hambali Yaakup said the boat sank in bad sea conditions not far from the coast and several vessels and an aircraft were searching for survivors.