Twelve people were killed as a boat carrying more than 100 Indonesians back home sank off the coast of a port near Kuala Lumpur early Tuesday, local media reported.
All the dead, including one pregnant woman, were in their 20s and they were drowned when the wooden barge suddenly sank off the coast of Klang Port, some 40 km southwest of the capital Kuala Lumpur.
Meanwhile, 112 others aboard survived the tragedy which took place about 10 minutes after the boat set sail from a forest area on the coast towards Sumatra in Indonesia, Malaysia's national news agency Bernama said.
Local police said that they launched a rescue operation after receiving information on the accident at around 7:30 a.m. local time.
Ten of the survivors were treated at a hospital in Klang while the rest were placed at a temporary shelter in the port.
Police said the barge was just five meters long and only could carry 70 people and the actual number of the passengers aboard the boat had yet to be ascertained.
All the victims were not carrying any identification papers, police said, adding that they had detained six Indonesian men believed to be in charge of the barge for investigation.
The detainees were believed to be carrying out an illegal operation to ferry Indonesians in and out of Malaysia, police said.
All the Indonesians were believed to be on their way home to celebrate the Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays, marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
(Xinhua News Agency October 1, 2008)
