15 workers missing after boat capsizes

15 workers missing after boat capsizes

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): Fifteen people were missing after a boat filled mostly with hotel workers sank off central Malacca state, the national Bernama news agency said on Monday.

Sixteen other people survived when the boat capsized at around midnight on Sunday, it said.

The boat sank after being hit by strong waves while sailing to a jetty on the peninsular Malaysian mainland from a resort on Pulau Besar off Malacca, the agency said.

Marine police and fisheries department personnel were mounting search and rescue operations.

The 15 missing people included the boat's captain and six women. Pulau Besar is a popular holiday island.