36 killed in migrant boat sinking and Malaysia halts search operations
Finished MalaysiaMonday Searches for Drowning accidents off the coast of Thailand and Malaysia.
Fourteen people have been rescued since the boat sank on November 6 near Taruto Island in Thailand, while trying to reach Malaysia.
The authorities reported that the boat was carrying about 70 migrants, most of them from the persecuted Rohingya minority in Burma.
Search and rescue operations
Said Zainuddin Muhammad Zuki, deputy director of operations at the Maritime Security Agency, in the northern states of Kedah and Perlis, said "Search and rescue operations will stop today (Monday) at 18:30 (10:30 GMT)"
He added in a press conference "But if new leads or indicators emerge, we will reassess and reactivate the operation to search for the remaining victims"
Malaysian rescue personnel were able to recover 29 bodies, while their Thai counterparts recovered seven bodies.
Boat occupants
It is likely that the occupants of the boat that capsized are part of a larger group of about 300 people who left Burma two weeks ago and were distributed in at least two boats, according to the authorities.
For decades, the Rohingya, of whom the majority are Muslims, persecution in Buddhist-majority Burma. Many of them fled military repression in 2017.
Thousands of them risk their lives every year on long sea journeys, often on boats, in an attempt to reach Malaysia or Indonesia.
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