KUALA LUMPUR: A Rohingya migrant is feared to be the only survivor from a boat carrying at least two dozen asylum seekers believed to have run into difficulties off the Malaysian coast near Thailand, a coastguard official said today.
Mohamad Zawawi Abdullah, coastguard chief for the northern states of Kedah and Perlis, said the 27-year-old named Nor Hossain was detained by police after he swam to shore on Langkawi.
“Based on the information from the police, the illegal Rohingya migrant had jumped off the boat that had 24 other people and that he was the only one who managed to swim to the shore safely,” Zawawi said.