Migrant vessel sinks off Malaysia-Thailand border, hundreds missing

KUALA LUMPUR: Hundreds were missing on Sunday after a boat sank near the Thailand-Malaysia border, as 10 survivors and one body were recovered, the Malaysian maritime authority said.

More victims might still be found at sea some three days after the sinking of the vessel, which left Buthidaung, Myanmar, with about 300 people on board, said First Admiral Romli Mustafa, the maritime authority director of the northern Malaysian states of Kedah and Perlis.

Among the survivors found in the waters off Langkawi were three Myanmar men, two Rohingya men and one Bangladeshi man, while the body was that of a Rohingya woman, state media Bernama said, citing Kedah police chief Adzli Abu Shah.

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Members of the mainly Muslim Rohingya minority periodically flee majority-Buddhist Myanmar, where they are seen as foreign interlopers from South Asia, who are denied citizenship and face abuse.

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, Adzli was quoted as saying.

The status of the other two boats was not known, and a search-and-rescue operation was ongoing, he said.