tranded:
The Myanmar nationals being gathered by police at Teluk Burau in
Langkawi after jumping off boat they were on to enter Malaysia.
Source
The Star:
LANGKAWI: In a mass attempt at entering Malaysia illegally, 500 Myanmar nationals, some as young as seven, were forced to jump off a boat and swim 500m to the beach at Teluk Burau here – with painful consequences.
One
Myanmar drowned while two others are in critical condition. Police
found 449 people stranded on the beach yesterday, worn out from the
long swim.
About 50 others were believed to have reached shore and gone into hiding.
Langkawi
OCPD Supt Harrith Kam Abdullah said the drowned man’s body was
found some 200m from the beach while the two others were found not
far from him.
He said
the injured were sent to the Langkawi Hospital for treatment.
“The
incident occurred at 1.30pm, when the immigrants aged between seven
and 50 were forced to swim to shore by the captain,” he said
yesterday.
Supt
Harrith Kam said investigations showed that the group travelled by
boat for 15 days from their country before reaching Langkawi waters.
He said
each of them was believed to have paid RM1,000 for the boat trip
here.
Police
are now looking for the immigrants who are believed to be hiding in
the forest near the beach.
Supt
Harrith Kam said those detained were taken to the Langkawi police
headquarters.
Meanwhile,
in Kuala Nerang, police found bodies of three Myanmar workers in a
rubber estate in Kampung Chebar, Tanjung Piring near here.
Their
bodies were found with slash wounds on their necks and heads.
Kedah
CID chief Asst Comm Zakaria Ahmad said the men, from Arakan in
Myanmar, worked as rubber tappers.
He said
their bodies were found after their friend lodged a report in Tanjung
Piring at 1pm yesterday.
No
identification was found on the men, believed to be aged between 18
and 30.
“Investigations
revealed that four men were attacked by a group of men armed with
parang at 11pm on Dec 28,” he said.