Global General

Special

Newsmaker

Asia Pacific

America

Middle East

Europe

Africa

12 Indonesians dead as boat sinks off Malaysia

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-01 10:00

KUALA LUMPUR -- Twelve Indonesians returning home to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holidays were killed when a boat carrying 130 people capsized off the coast of Malaysia early on Tuesday, the Malaysian coastguard said.

A Malaysian coastguard official said rescuers pulled out 112 survivors but some passengers were still unaccounted for.

"The boat could not hold so many of these passengers who wanted to get back to Indonesia to be with their families for the festivals this week," Kamarulzaman Abu Hasan, head of the coastguard rescue operations, told Reuters.

Marine police commandant Marzuki Ismail in central Selangor state was quoted by the online edition of the Star newspaper as saying the boat could have capsized because it was overcrowded with illegal workers.

Every year, thousands of illegal immigrants from Indonesia cross the busy Malacca Strait to return home to the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Seeking to avoid Malaysia's coastguard, they often set off from beaches and mangrove creeks along Malaysia's west coast in rickety wooden boats.