The rescue team will conduct the search and rescue operation for a week, Head of Operation Section of National Search and Rescue Team of East and North Kalimantan Octavianto said in a press statement received here, Friday.
"So far, a total of nine victims have been found; two of them survived the accident," Octavianto revealed.
Two survivors were found unconscious and stranded on the coast of Batu Payung, Tawau, Malaysia.
However, the ill-fated boat maintained no legal record and the authority had to rely on information given by the surviving passengers, namely Budiman Mursalim and Hasmida Massaniga, who said that the boat was carrying 15 passengers.
Six bodies had been found in Sebatik Island of Nunukan, North Kalimantan and one in Tawau waters of Malaysia.
The bodies found in Sebatik Island have been taken to local hospital RSUD of Nunukan District for identification, while the one found in the Malaysian waters is being identified at a local hospital in Malaysia.
The boat carrying 15 passengers, including Indonesian migrant workers, capsized in the waters of Sabah, Malaysia, on February 7 at 6pm local time.
Based on the information given by the survivors, the motorboat they had boarded was on a trip from Tanagat, Tawau, to Sungai Nyamuk in Indonesias Nunukan Regency.
Both Indonesia and Malaysia have deployed rescue teams to conduct a search in the Tinagat-Sungai Nyamuk sea-lane, which is often used by illegal workers.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2017
