Hundreds of people are missing after a boat sank near the Thai-Malaysian border on Sunday, with 10 survivors and one body recovered, the Malaysian maritime authority said.
More victims could still be found at sea about three days after the sinking of the ship, which left Buthidaung, Myanmar, with about 300 people on board, said Rear Admiral Romli Mustafa, director of the maritime authority of the northern Malaysian states of Kedah and Perlis.
Among the survivors found in the waters near Langkawi were three men from Myanmar, two Rohingya men and a Bangladeshi man, while the body was that of a Rohingya woman, state media Bernama said, citing Kedah police chief Adzli Abu Shah.
Members of the predominantly Muslim Rohingya minority periodically flee Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where they are seen as foreign intruders from South Asia, denied citizenship and facing abuse.
The people heading to Malaysia initially boarded a large ship, but as they approached the border, they were instructed to transfer to three smaller ships, each with about 100 people, to avoid detection by authorities, Adzli was quoted as saying.
The status of the other two ships is unknown and a search and rescue operation is ongoing, he said.
