KUALA LUMPUR - Sinar Harian reported, four more bodies were found late yesterday, raising the death toll in the migrant boat tragedy off the Malaysia–Thailand maritime border to 29 people.

Director of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) for Kedah and Perlis, First Admiral (Maritime) Romli Mustafa, said the latest victims were three men and one woman, discovered near Tanjung Belua and Pulau Intan Kecil.

He said one adult male survivor was also rescued by the Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) around 12.49pm, about 0.1 nautical miles from Tanjung Belua.

“The victim was brought to the Malaysian Maritime jetty for further action by the police,” he said in a statement yesterday evening.

The first body was reported by a member of the public who found a woman near Pulau Intan Kecil, and the remains were taken by the Civil Defence Force (APM) to the jetty for handover.

Soon after, the Marine Department (JLM) reported discovering the body of a man west of Tanjung Belua, followed by another found by the MMEA vessel KM Siangin about 1.6 nautical miles from the same area.

The final discovery of the day was recorded at 4.13pm when Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) boat FCB 1331 recovered another man’s body about one nautical mile from Tanjung Belua.

As of 5.30pm, the search-and-rescue (SAR) operation, now on its third day, has rescued 14 people consisting of 12 men and two women.

To date, 29 deaths have been confirmed, including nine bodies found earlier by Thai authorities in their territorial waters.

Romli urged the public to immediately contact the MMEA Kedah and Perlis operations centre at 04-966 2750 or the emergency hotline 999 if they come across any victims.

For the record, The tragedy occurred when a boat carrying about 70 undocumented migrants mostly believed to be Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals capsized near Thailand’s Tarutao island last week.

The group had reportedly set sail from Myanmar two weeks earlier, aiming to reach Malaysia, before rough seas caused the overloaded vessel to sink.

The boat was one of at least two believed to have carried a total of around 300 migrants attempting the dangerous journey across the Andaman Sea.

Search operations led by Malaysian and Thai authorities are continuing across a wide area, covering roughly 250 square nautical miles.