Rescuers search waters for accident survivors<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR (AP): About 38 people were missing and feared
\ndrowned on Saturday after a fiber glass boat crammed with at
\nleast 80 people capsized in the Straits of Malacca on its way
\nfrom Indonesia to Malaysia, maritime officials said.<\/p>\n
Rescuers from both countries have recovered eight bodies and
\nrescued 34 people so far and news reports said most of the
\nmissing passengers - many of them women - may have drowned in the
\nrough seas.<\/p>\n
The boat was hit by strong waves after it left Dumai on the
\nIndonesian island of Sumatra and went down close to the Malaysian
\nshore on Wednesday night. Passing merchant vessels noticed some
\nof the survivors and alerted marine police on Friday.<\/p>\n
At least 27 Indonesians have been rescued by the navy and
\nfishing boats, said an Indonesian navy officer, Sgt. Mulyadi who,
\nlike many Indonesians, uses one name. Seven others were rescued
\nby Malaysian boats.<\/p>\n
Seven bodies were found by Indonesian rescuers while Malaysian
\npolice discovered the body of a woman within the wreckage of the
\nboat, which was later towed to the nearby coastal town of Port
\nDickson, about 60 kilometers south of Kuala Lumpur.<\/p>\n
Malaysian and Indonesian officials say between 73 to 80 people
\nwere crammed in the fiberglass fishing boat, the kind often used
\nby poor Indonesians to sneak into Malaysia to find employment.<\/p>\n
\"The search and rescue is still going on. We've alerted all
\nmerchant ships that are passing by the Straits of Malacca to be
\non the lookout for survivors or bodies,\" said S. Arumugam, an
\nofficer at Kuala Lumpur's Maritime Rescue and Coordinating
\nCenter.<\/p>\n
Arumugam said many survivors may have reached the shores
\nsafely without the knowledge of the authorities.<\/p>\n
\"Because they are illegal immigrants, they might have tried to
\nmake their own way back to Indonesian shores.\"<\/p>\n
Malaysian police said search operations, suspended Friday
\nnight, had resumed soon after dawn Saturday but no survivors or
\nbodies had been found until midday.<\/p>\n
Three Malaysian marine police boats were involved in the
\nsearch, Abdul Rahman Mahamud, police chief of Port Dickson town,
\nwas quoted as saying by Bernama news agency.<\/p>\n
Saturday's Malaysian dailies, quoting survivors, said the boat
\nwas carrying about 100 people and at least 90 of them may have
\ndrowned.<\/p>\n
Six of the seven people who were rescued by Malaysian boats
\nhad been admitted to a hospital near Port Dickson. All of them
\nwere later brought to a district police station for questioning.<\/p>\n
\"Once investigations are over, they will be sent over (to) the
\nimmigration office for deportation next week,\" said police
\nspokesman Khairuddin Harahap.<\/p>\n
Cumbani, a woman survivor from East Java, told reporters that
\nthe boat left Dumai for Malaysia late Tuesday but turned back
\nafter it developed engine trouble. It capsized several hours
\nlater.<\/p>\n
\"I don't know what happened to the others after the boat
\noverturned. Probably many died,\" said Cumbani. \"I managed to
\ncling onto the boat.\"<\/p>\n
She said she saw eight passengers who had been clinging to the
\nhull being swept away by strong waves.<\/p>\n
\"We saw them being washed away and screaming for help,\" The
\nStar daily quoted her as saying.<\/p>\n
Malaysia, a country of 22 million, employs nearly 2 million
\nforeign workers, mostly from Indonesia. Thousands of Indonesians
\nalso work illegally in Malaysia, mostly as house maids and
\nconstruction laborers.<\/p>\n
Police routinely arrest illegal immigrants and deport them
\nacross the 70-kilometer (44-mile) strip of water that separates
\npeninsular Malaysia from Indonesia's Sumatra island.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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