Eight Indonesians have drowned after two boats collided in the latest fatal sea accident involving illegal immigrants in Malaysian waters, police say.
The vessels were carrying a total of 35 Indonesian illegal immigrants off Malaysia's Sabah state, which borders Indonesia's Kalimantan province on Borneo island, said a Sabah police official who declined to be identified, citing protocol.
The boats collided in the dark and sank early Tuesday. Twenty-six survivors clung to life jackets, driftwood and oil drums before a passing boat rescued them, The Star and New Straits Times newspapers reported. One person was still missing.
Several boats illegally transporting people between Malaysia and Indonesia have sunk in recent months, resulting in more than a dozen fatalities. Officials have said most of the boats were rickety and overloaded.
One of the boats was believed to be taking Indonesians to Malaysia, while the other one was bringing others to a nearby Indonesian island, the police official said.
"It happened so fast. I only managed to cling to a drum to stay afloat," The Star quoted a survivor, Soli Badu, as saying.
Badu, who worked in a coconut plantation in Malaysia, had been trying to return to Indonesia and lost her two children and a niece in the accident.
Some 1.2 million Indonesians work legally in more prosperous Malaysia, but the Indonesian Embassy estimates 800,000 more live there without valid immigration documents. Many Indonesians are employed in plantations, construction sites and restaurants.
