One dead, 14 missing after boat capsizes

One Indonesian woman drowned and 14 other suspected illegal immigrants were missing after a boat capsized off Malaysia's west coast, police said today.

Baljeet Singh, a district police chief in central Negri Sembilan state, said authorities had rescued seven Indonesians and were searching for those missing.

Mr Singh did not have details about where the boat was heading and whether the Indonesians were illegal immigrants.

Dozens of Indonesians and illegal immigrants of other nationalities have died in boat accidents in recent years while travelLing between peninsular Malaysia and Indonesia's Sumatra island, which are separated by the Malacca Strait.