Fifteen people were confirmed dead and 27 missing after two Indonesia-bound boats sank off the coast of Malaysia this week, an official said today.

All fatalities were from the first boat that sank before dawn on Wednesday off the coast of Kuala Langat town, 45 kilometres west of Kuala Lumpur, according to Mohammed Hambali Yaakup, operations chief of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency.

A total of 82 people were rescued in the two accidents, he said.

Some of the missing could well have swum to safety and gone into hiding, he said.

The first boat was thought to be carrying 97 people, and the second boat 27 when it sank early yesterday, Hambali said.

Accidents involving boats carrying Indonesian migrants are common as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan nears, a maritime official said.

One of the survivors of yesterday’s accident, a 36-year-old Indonesian who gave his name only as Masri, said he had worked as chicken-stall helper in Malaysia since 1996, and paid RM650 (US$200) for the boat ride home to in Medah in Indonesia for Ramadan.

“Strong winds hit the boat and the engine died,” the state-run news agency Bernama quoted him as saying. “Water started flowing into the boat and it overturned. We panicked because most of us are not good swimmers.”

Of the estimated 1.5 million undocumented migrant workers in Malaysia, more than half are from Indonesia, an interior ministry official said. Many make the journey on rickety wooden boats.

Malaysia has high demand for Indonesian migrant labourers, the International Office of Migration said, noting that the country “is highly dependent on their contribution to its development and industrialisation”.

Indonesia and Malaysia have a similar language and culture, facilitating the flow of migrant workers between the countries.

- dpa