KL pessimistic of finding more boat survivors

KL pessimistic of finding more boat survivors

KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Police said on Sunday they did not
expect to rescue any more survivors off a boat carrying illegal
Indonesian workers that capsized in the Straits of Malacca, but
that a search would probably continue for several days.

"It's been too long. We think there are only bodies left,"
said Lance Cpl. Aspar Supani, a police spokesman in Port Dickson
town, 96-kilometers south of Kuala Lumpur, as quoted by AP.

Malaysian marine police continued on Sunday a search for some
50 Indonesians still missing after their boat capsized in the
Straits of Malacca four days ago.

"After almost four days, the chances of finding survivors are
slim," an official at the Malaysian Maritime Rescue and
Coordination Center told Reuters.

The official Bernama news agency said marine police boats and
police helicopters resumed a full search at daybreak on Sunday.

Two marine boats and a helicopter were involved in the
operation, a police spokesman in Port Dickson, in the
southwestern state of Negeri Sembilan, told AFP.

Security forces were also helping by combing the coastline for
bodies which could have been washed ashore, he said.

But there was no word of any recovery after nearly 10 hours of
searching on Sunday.

There had been no new developments since Saturday when a
decomposed body of an Indonesian woman was found trapped under
the capsized boat which had earlier been towed to a jetty in Port
Dickson.

According to Malaysia's Maritime Rescue and Coordination
Center (MRCC), 26 people had been rescued -- seven by Malaysian
vessels and the rest by Indonesian boats.

A MRCC spokesman said their Indonesian counterpart was still
investigating the case but believed that most of the other
missing passengers could have been rescued by passing ships.

The center has alerted all merchant ships passing through the
Straits of Malacca to be on the lookout for any survivors or
bodies.

Port Dickson police chief Abdul Rahman Mahammad said on
Saturday that the seven saved by Malaysian ships were in
detention and would be handed to the immigration department later
for deportation.

He said the 15-meter vessel was carrying some 80 people.

It left Dumai in Riau province in Sumatra late on Tuesday and
stopped over at nearby Pulau Rupat following engine problems
before continuing its journey.

The boat was believed to have capsized in Indonesian waters
early on Wednesday before drifting into Malaysian territory and
was discovered by passing ships a day later, he added.

Thousands of Indonesians cross illegally into neighboring
Malaysia every year in search of work.

Boats overloaded with job-seekers have capsized several times
in recent years with numerous fatalities.