KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia ended its search Monday for migrants who went missing after their boat capsized 11 days ago, with searchers recovering 36 bodies after the sinking off the Thai-Malaysian coast.
Fourteen survivors were also rescued since the shipwreck on November 6, near Thailand’s Tarutao island while trying to reach Malaysia.
Officials said the vessel was carrying some 70 undocumented migrants, mostly from Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya community.
“The search-and-rescue operation will be called off at 6:30 p.m. (1030 GMT) today (Monday),” said Zainudin Mohd Zuki, deputy operations director of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) in the northern states of Kedah and Perlis.
“We have examined all factors, including the size of the area, assets deployment, duration of the operation and information about the incident.
“However, if there are any new leads or indications, we will reassess and reactivate the operation to search for the remaining missing victims,” Zainudin said at a news conference.
Malaysian rescuers have recovered 29 bodies, while their Thai counterparts have found seven in recent days.
“As of Monday, the Malaysian and Thai authorities found 36 bodies, cumulatively,” Romli Mustafa, MMEA’s director in Kedah and Perlis, told AFP.
The 14 survivors — mainly Rohingya and Bangladeshi citizens — were all found in Malaysian waters since operations began on November 8, with Monday marking the 10th day of the search.
At least 19 vessels and more than 300 personnel searched an area of around 1,750 square nautical miles, roughly eight times the size of Singapore.
The passengers on the capsized boat were likely part of a larger group of some 300 people who had left Myanmar two weeks ago, and were split between at least two vessels, officials say.
Malaysian police reported the second vessel as missing.
Relatively affluent Malaysia is home to millions of migrants from poorer parts of Asia, many of them undocumented, working in industries including construction and agriculture.
But sea crossings, facilitated by human trafficking syndicates, are hazardous and often lead to overloaded boats capsizing.
The Rohingya have been persecuted in Myanmar for decades, and thousands risk their lives every year to flee repression and civil war, often aboard makeshift boats.
More than 5,300 Rohingya fled Bangladesh and Myanmar by sea between January and early November, with more than 600 reported dead or missing, the United Nations Refugee Agency and International Organization for Migration said last week.
Migrant shipwreck leaves 36 dead as Malaysia ends search
https://arab.news/5z49u
Migrant shipwreck leaves 36 dead as Malaysia ends search
- Malaysia ended its search Monday for migrants who went missing after their boat capsized 11 days ago, with searchers recovering 36 bodies after the sinking off the Thai-Malaysian coast
Ukraine’s Zelensky: We have backed US peace proposals to get a deal done
- “The tactic we chose is for the Americans not to think that we want to continue the war,” Zelensky told The Atlantic
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv had sought to back US peace proposals to end the war with Russia as President Donald Trump seeks to resolve the conflict before November mid-term elections.
Zelensky, in an interview published by The Atlantic on Thursday, said Kyiv was willing to hold both a presidential election and a referendum on a deal, but would not settle for an accord that was detrimental to Ukraine’s interests.
“The tactic we chose is for the Americans not to think that we want to continue the war,” Zelensky told the US-based publication. “That’s why we started supporting their proposals in any format that speeds things along.”
He said Ukraine was “not afraid of anything. Are we ready for elections? We’re ready. Are we ready for a referendum? We’re ready.”
Zelensky has sought to build good relations with Washington since an Oval Office meeting in February 2025 descended into a shouting match with Trump and US Vice President JD Vance.
But he said he had rejected a proposal, reported this week by the Financial Times, to announce the votes on February 24, the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion. A ceasefire and proposed US security guarantees against a future invasion had not yet been settled, he said.
“No one is clinging to power,” The Atlantic quoted him as saying. “I am ready for elections. But for that we need security, guarantees of security, a ceasefire.”
And he added: “I don’t think we should put a bad deal up for a referendum.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Zelensky is not a legitimate negotiating partner because he has not faced election since coming to power in 2019.
Zelensky has said in recent weeks that a document on security guarantees for Ukraine is all but ready to be signed.
But, in his remarks, he acknowledged that details remained unresolved, including whether the US would be willing to shoot down incoming missiles over Ukraine if Russia were to violate the peace.
“This hasn’t been fixed yet,” Zelensky said. “We have raised it, and we will continue to raise these questions...We need all of this to be written out.”
