Eight dead, 28 missing in boat capsize

BANTING: An overloaded boat carrying 97 Indonesian illegal immigrants who were attempting to return home for Ramadan capsized off Pulau Carey leaving eight dead and 28 missing today.
The boat, or tongkang, sank in the waters off Sungai Air Itam about two nautical miles from here barely an hour after it left the Sungai Judah jetty at Pulau Carey at 11pm on Tuesday.
Those on board – men, women and children – who were apparently heading to Aceh, Indonesia, ended up in the waters struggling to stay afloat.
As more than two dozen of them swam away towards the shore, the rest hung on for their lives by holding on to the sinking boat.
Selangor police chief Senior DCP Datuk Abdul Samah Mat said it was fortunate a Malaysian Customs Department boat that was on its routine patrols in the area spotted the victims and went to their aid.
He said the Customs Department officers managed to rescue 26 men, four women and a five-year-old girl before taking them ashore.
He said a search was launched for the rest soon after before another 30, comprising 22 men and eight women, were found in a state of exhaustion at Ladang West, Pulau Carey by police at 10.45am.
Abdul Samah said the survivors, who are in their 30s and late 40s, were taken to the Teluk Panglima Garang police station and to the Customs Department office in Port Klang where they were given medical attention and other aid.
The bodies of the eight victims were sent to the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital for post-mortem.
He said investigations showed that 29 of the 30 under police custody had overstayed in the country.
He said the search-and-rescue operation for those missing will continue throughout the night.
"We do not know exactly how many were on board the boat but based on the statements recorded from the survivors, we learnt it's 97. It may be less or even more. The boat was not meant to carry passengers and it was loaded with twice its capacity. We believe that is why it went down but our forensics team is gathering clues to determine what really happened.
"We are looking for the owner and the tekong (pilot) of the boat to assist in our probe. We are also checking if the ill-fated boat is Malaysian owned or otherwise." he told a press conference at the Sungai Kelanang fisherman's jetty located about 6km from where the boat sank.
Abdul Samah said the case is being investigated under the Anti-Human Trafficking Act and the survivors will be investigated under immigration laws.
He said more than 160 personnel from the police, fire and rescue department, Civil Defence and Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency are involved in the search.
About 20 boats and two helicopters from these agencies have also been deployed to look for the missing foreigners.