REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BATAM -- As many as eight Indonesian alleged illegal migrant workers were found dead after their boat sank in the Batam waters at dawn on Wednesday.
The workers were on their way home from Malaysia, the neighboring country. The dead bodies were rushed to the police's Bhayangkara hospital in the Batam city for identification, according to the director of investigation and criminal affairs of the local police office, Senior Commissioner Eko Puji Nugroho, here on Wednesday.
In addition, 39 others aboard the ill-fated ship survived, he pointed out, adding that three among the survivors were women. "The search is still on. The total number of passengers on board the sinking ship was 97," he disclosed.
According to him, the deceased hailed from Aceh, Padang, North Sumatra, East Java, Lombok and Palembang. In the meantime, head of the Riau Islands provincial police, Brig. Gen Sam Budigusdian, stated that he also appealed to the people to help in the efforts to evacuate the victims.
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