Seven bodies recovered from capsized migrant boat

KOTA TINGGI: Seven bodies were retrieved from a boat carrying illegal immigrants which had capsized at Tanjung Balau on Monday.
Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) Southern region operations director Commander Sanifah Yusof said the bodies were discovered by the search and rescue team during a three-day operation.
In a statement today, he said two of the victims were female.
Sanifah said the boat carrying 44 Indonesians were travelling from Batam and had planned to cross the Johor Straits to Penawar in Pengerang on Monday.
However, their boat overturned at 6.5 nautical miles east of Tanjung Balau.
The MMEA were alerted by workers of a nearby oil rig after they spotted two people at sea at around 4.45am on Monday.
He said eight assets including a helicopter from the Malaysian Civil Defence Force and 125 personnel from the Marine police, Navy, Army, Civil Defence Department and the Pengerang local authority were deployed on-site.
The rescued team managed to rescue 25 people from the capsized boat on Monday.
Tanjung Balau near Pengerang has been a hotspot for illegal immigrants attempting to enter Malaysia.
All victims are being probed under Section 14 of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 and the Immigration Act 1959/63.
At press time, search and rescue efforts were still ongoing, as 12 more victims remain missing.