One body has been found and dozens of others are missing after a boat carrying about 90 people sank near the Thailand-Malaysia border, officials said, Al Jazeera reports.
The Malaysian maritime authority on Sunday said at least 10 survivors were found, while the status of two other boats carrying a similar number of people remains unknown.
The incident is believed to have happened near Tarutao Island, just north of the popular Malaysian resort island of Langkawi.
“A boat carrying 90 people is believed to have capsized,” local police chief Adzli Abu Shah told reporters, adding that rescue operations were under way to locate the survivors.
Among the survivors found in the waters were three Myanmar nationals, two Rohingya refugees, and a Bangladeshi man, while the body was that of a Rohingya woman, state media agency Bernama reported, quoting Abu Shah.
The Malaysia-bound people initially boarded a large vessel, but, as they neared the border, they were instructed to transfer onto three smaller boats, each carrying about 100 people, to avoid detection by the authorities, the police chief was quoted as saying.
bd-pratidin/GR
