A Philippines navy ship today set sail for home from Sabah with more than a dozen sick children among the deported illegal immigrants on board, a medical official said.

The vessel San Juan was carrying a total of 150 women and children as it began the six-hour journey to Bongao in southern Philippines from Sandakan in Sabah.

"On board the vessel were 16 children who are suffering from bronchitis, diarrhoea, dehydration and ulcers," said Redentor Radino, a doctor with the Philippines' department of health.

"But they are fit to travel," he said, adding that they would be given immediate medical attention once they arrived in Bongao.

The deportees had boarded the ship on Saturday, but it left Sandakan just hours before the arrival Tuesday of a Philippines government team investigating allegations that Filipino illegal immigrants have been badly treated at Malaysian deportation camps.