Eight Indonesian illegals drown

Eight Indonesian illegals drown

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Eight Indonesian illegal immigrants drowned and nine others went missing when they panicked and jumped into the sea after Malaysian customs officers opened fire at their speedboat, police said yesterday.

Forty-one others, including a month-old baby boy and two women, were held captive after choosing to stay on the boat in the incident off Malaysia's southern Johore state late Saturday, police said.

"The survivors will be deported. As for the missing nine, we have yet to locate them," S. Divakaran, police chief for the Johore Baru capital of Johore, told reporters. The skipper of the boat was among those still missing.

Those drowned included the parents of the abandoned infant.