Death toll in Malaysia migrant shipwreck rises to at least 21

Rescuers carry bags containing the bodies of victims after a boat carrying migrants from Myanmar capsized near the Malaysia-Thailand border. Photo / AFP

Authorities in Malaysia and Thailand have recovered at least 21 bodies as they search for survivors after a boat carrying undocumented migrants capsized, police and maritime officials have said.

Officials said the boat was carrying about 70 migrants, many believed to be from Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya community trying to reach Malaysia, when it capsized near Thailand’s Tarutao island four days ago.

They were believed to have been part of a larger group of some 300 people who were split between at least two boats, police said.

Tarutao is just north of Malaysia’s island resort of Langkawi, where officials said search-and-rescue operations were being concentrated.

Romli Mustafa, director of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) in the northern states of Kedah and Perlis, said rescuers found five more bodies on Monday, without disclosing their nationality or ethnicity.

Seven recovered at the weekend were all identified as Rohingya.

“Our search counterpart, the Thai authorities, has so far found... a total of nine bodies. No survivors were found in Thai waters,” Romli told reporters on Monday evening.

Search-and-rescue operations were expected to last for seven days, he said, depending on further discoveries and the weather.

Romli said earlier on Monday at least 12 vessels were searching for survivors in an area of around 250 square nautical miles, roughly the same size as the city-state of Singapore.

“We will continue to expand the search grid,” he said.

MMEA patrol vessels set out off Langkawi early on Monday in choppy seas under blazing tropical sun, according to AFP journalists on one of the vessels.

With spray lashing the decks, the harsh conditions forced the boat to seek temporary shelter at a nearby resort island before resuming the search.

‘High risk routes’

At least 13 people have been rescued alive, all Rohingya and Bangladeshis, police said.

Langkawi police chief Khairul Azhar Nuruddin said six of the dead were identified as Rohingya women and one a Rohingya girl.

He said police believed the group of some 300 migrants started their journey from Myanmar two weeks ago.

The second vessel that left Myanmar has also been reported missing, Malaysian police said on Sunday.

Relatively affluent Malaysia is home to millions of migrants from poorer parts of Asia, many of them undocumented, working in industries including construction and agriculture.

However, the crossings, facilitated by human trafficking syndicates, are hazardous and often lead to overloaded boats capsizing.

“Cross-border syndicates are now increasingly active in exploiting migrants by making them victims of human trafficking using high-risk sea routes,” Romli said.

He said after the mission finished for the day that more survivors would be found when it resumes on Tuesday morning.

Syndicates charge up to US$3500 ($6214) per person for passage, Malaysian media have reported.

The Rohingya have been persecuted in Myanmar for decades and thousands risk their lives every year to flee repression and civil war, often aboard makeshift boats.

In 2024, some 657 Rohingya died in the region’s waters, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

- Agence France-Presse