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.