A boat carrying at least 70 illegal immigrants capsized early Thursday morning off Sabak Bernam town on Malaysia's western coast. The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) said thirteen passengers were killed and another 13 were rescued by local fishermen.
"Local fishermen have rescued 13 people and have found 13 bodies," Mohamad Aliyas Hamdan of MMEA told AFP news agency. "We have deployed 12 ships and a plane along with some 200 officers to carry out the search and rescue operation for the remaining victims."
MMEA search and rescue operations director Captain Robert Teh Geok Chuan said the migrants were from Indonesia, according to The Star. He said the migrants were attempting to return to their country by boat from the Hutan Melintang jetty. The boat left Sabak Bernam and was heading for Sumatra, Indonesia.
The South East Asian countries recently witnessed a massive surge of boat people or illegal migrants when Thailand launched a crackdown on human smugglers in May this year, reported BBC.
The migrant boat tragedy in Malaysian comes at a time when Europe is facing its worst migrant crisis since World War II, according to Reuters.
