The boat with illegal immigrants from the Middle East on board was believed to have capsized after being hit by big waves and run aground on coral reefs in Pangandaran waters on its way from East Nusa Tenggara to Australia.Ciamis, W Java (ANTARA News) - The body of another female illegal immigrant from the Middle East was found in Pangandaran waters, West Java, on Tuesday raising the number of fatalities in a recent boat people accident to seven.
Pangandaran coast guard Asep Udel said the victim`s body was found by a joint team of police, military, search and rescue personnel and local fishermen far out in the sea.
The bodies of six females, two of them children, were found in Palawangan coast earlier in the morning.
"So the number of dead victims is now seven, namely five adults and two children and all of them are female," Asep said.
He said he believed a number of other bodies were still in the sea and the team would therefore continue its searches.
"We keep searching but we do not know yet the exact number of people who went missing," he said.
All of the bodies had been taken to a community health center in Pangandaran while 14 injured people were receiving medical treatment at the center.
The boat with illegal immigrants from the Middle East on board was believed to have capsized after being hit by big waves and run aground on coral reefs in Pangandaran waters on its way from East Nusa Tenggara to Australia.
The total number of people on the boat had been confirmed but some of them were able to save themselves by swimming ashore, Asep said.
He said the police were still intensively questioning the shipwreck survivors.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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