THE bodies of five Indonesians have been recovered, while three others remain missing after a boat capsized off Teluk Ramunia, Pengerang, Kota Tinggi, at 4.50am today.

Johor maritime director First Admiral Nurul Hizam Zakaria said 19 others, comprising 10 women and nine men, were found safe floating about 1nm from the bay.

“The bodies of two women were found along with the survivors, while three other women’s bodies were found about 1km from the scene at 7.30am,” he said in a statement at the Pengerang Malaysian Fisheries Development Authority Jetty.

The bodies were taken to the Kota Tinggi Hospital for post-mortem, while the survivors, ages 20 to 40, were taken to the Malaysian Armed Forces Post in Tanjung Sepang.

According to Nurul Hizam, the 15m-long wooden boat with three 200-horsepower engines was believed to be travelling from Tanjung Tondang, Pulau Bintan, heading towards Teluk Ramunia.

“It is understood that the boat can travel at 80km/h with a capacity of 27 passengers.

“The distance from Pulau Bintan to Teluk Ramunia is about 11 miles and the Indonesia/Malaysia border is about 6nm, which can take only about half an hour (to travel).

“We believe that the wooden boat, which was driven too fast in waves as high 1m, apart from the wind speed, caused the boat to become unstable and capsize,” he said.

Earlier, the Malaysian Maritime Surveillance System radar detected a suspicious boat coming from Pulau Bintan, Indonesia, towards national waters at 3.45am, before alerting the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN).

The RMN then detected the boat at 4.10am but, after realising the presence of the authorities, the boat increased speed before capsizing 0.8nm off Teluk Ramunia at 4.50am.

He said the wooden boat was found at 9.30am about 1nm southwest of Kuala Sungai Rengit, while the search for three remaining still continues.

This is the second capsized boat incident this week involving migrants from Indonesia.

On Tuesday, six women drowned while seven others survived after a boat capsized off the waters of Pontian Besar. – Bernama, January 2022.