Hundreds feared dead after migrant boat capsizes off Malaysia
- - Hundreds feared dead after migrant boat capsizes off Malaysia
Vivian SongNovember 10, 2025 at 4:04 AM
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A member of the rescue team checks on a survivor after 300 people failed to arrive in Malaysia - MMEA/Reuters
Hundreds of people are feared dead after a migrant boat from Myanmar capsized near Malaysia.
At least seven bodies have been found and 13 people rescued after 300 people failed to arrive in Malaysia having left Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
Officials believe the passengers boarded a large ship and were then placed into three smaller boats, each carrying around 100 passengers, to evade detection as they approached the Malaysian coast.
One of the boats is believed to have sunk in Thai waters on Thursday, while the two others are yet to be found.
Search teams were deployed after reports of survivors drifting at sea and rescuers are combing an area of 170 square nautical miles near Langkawi island, in the Malacca Strait, after one of the boats sank on Thursday.
The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) said that they recovered the body of a woman from the sea on Saturday. The remaining six bodies were discovered on Sunday before the operation was suspended. It was scheduled to resume on Monday.
The migrants had departed from the town of Buthidaung, in Myanmar’s Rakhine state where ethnic violence has targeted the Rohingya community.
The survivors included three Myanmar nationals, two Rohingya refugees, and a Bangladeshi man. “There is a possibility that more victims will be found,” said Romli Mustafa, first admiral of the MMEA.
Rakhine state has suffered years of conflict, hunger and ethnic violence mostly targeting the Rohingya Muslim minority community.
Rescuers are combing an area of 170 square nautical miles in the Malacca Strait - MMEA/AFP
About 1.3 million Rohingya live as refugees in densely packed camps in neighbouring Bangladesh after they were driven out of Rakhine following a brutal 2017 military crackdown.
The country has been mired in conflict after the Myanmar military overthrew the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021.
Thousands of civilians have been killed and millions of people displaced in a campaign the United Nations has called “textbook ethnic cleansing”.
According to UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency, around 5,200 Rohingya refugees have set off on dangerous maritime journeys since the beginning of the year. Nearly 600 people have been reported to be missing or dead.
In January, Malaysian authorities turned away two boats carrying nearly 300 people believed to be Muslim Rohingya refugees who were trying to enter the country illegally. Malaysia is a popular destination because of its dominant Malay Muslim population.
Malaysia has accepted Rohingya in the past on humanitarian grounds but has tried to limit their numbers. There are around 117,670 Rohingya refugees registered with the UNHCR in Malaysia, more than half of the total refugee population in the country.
Mr Mustafa warned against trying to enter the country illegally, saying: “Cross-border syndicates are actively exploiting immigrants by making them victims of human trafficking using sea routes that are highly risky. The MMEA will not compromise with any parties involved in human trafficking activities.”
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Source: “AOL Breaking”
