Death toll in Malaysian boat accident rises to 16

The death toll from a boat accident off Malaysia rose to 16 Thursday after a search and rescue team found the bodies of five more Indonesian migrants on the shore.

The vessel, which was carrying about 50 Indonesians seeking to enter neighboring Malaysia illegally, capsized Wednesday in stormy weather off the southern state of Johor.

Soldiers on patrol found 11 bodies on the shore in the hours after the accident, and the bodies of three more men and two women were recovered Thursday, the coastguard said.

Twenty migrants are believed to still be missing, and authorities have deployed boats and an aircraft to hunt for them.

Another 14 people survived the accident, and have been taken into custody.

Indonesians desperate for work sometimes try to enter neighboring Malaysia illegally by making sea crossings in rickety boats, but accidents happen regularly.

Relatively affluent Malaysia is home to millions of migrants from poorer parts of Asia, many of them undocumented, and they work in industries including construction and agriculture.

The accident is the latest in a string of disasters recorded in the waterways between Indonesia and Malaysia in recent years, often involving overloaded boats ferrying laborers seeking work in Malaysian factories and plantations.

“They travel to Malaysia by boat and there are so many accidents because they depart at night and arrive early in the morning,” she said, adding boats often stop before reaching land to avoid detection and require those on board to swim ashore.