7 dead, hundreds missing after Myanmar migrant boat sinks

Hundreds of people were missing on Sunday after a boat carrying migrants sank near the Thailand-Malaysia border, the Malaysian maritime authority said.

At least seven bodies have been found, an agency official said.

More victims might still be found at sea some three days after the sinking of the vessel, which left Buthidaung, Myanmar, with about 300 people on board, said First Admiral Romli Mustafa, the maritime authority director of the northern Malaysian states of Kedah and Perlis.

Among survivors found in waters off Langkawi were three Myanmar men, two Rohingya men and one Bangladeshi man, state media Bernama said. At least 13 people have been rescued.

The search and rescue effort has ended for the day and will resume on Monday, Romli said, saying it was possible more survivors or victims could be found.

Members of the mainly Muslim Rohingya minority periodically flee majority-Buddhist Myanmar, where they are seen as foreign interlopers from South Asia who are denied citizenship and face abuse.

The Malaysia-bound people initially boarded a large vessel but as they neared the border, they were instructed to transfer onto three smaller boats, each carrying about 100 people, to avoid detection by the authorities, Adzli was quoted as saying.