Vietnam called on Malaysia Thursday to release 67 fishermen from Vietnamese vessels which were detained after allegedly straying into Malaysian waters and fishing illegally.

"We suppose those fishermen entered an area overlapping (the maritime borders of the two countries), only for fishing purposes," said Nguyen Ngoc Hung, director of foreign affairs department of Ba Ria Vung Tau province in southern Vietnam, where the ships were registered.

"Therefore, we call on Malaysian authorities to release them on humanitarian grounds," he said.

The ships were detained by the Malaysian navy on June 18 and are now being held at the port of Bintulu in Malaysian Borneo.

Nine fishing boats

A Bintulu district police official told AFP in Kuala Lumpur that a total of 115 Vietnamese and one Myanmar crew were aboard nine fishing boats that strayed into Malaysian waters but the Vietamese authorities could not confirm this.

Malaysian media reports said police suspected they had been fishing illegally for the previous two weeks, and that they had transferred their catch to their "mother ship" outside Malaysian waters.

Families of fishermen in another southern province, Kien Giang, have also complained to Vietnamese authorities that up to five of their fishing vessels are being detained by the Malaysian navy.