Death toll climbs up to 62 after migrant boat capsizes off Malaysia

The body of a male victim was recovered on Monday in the waters off the west coast of Malaysia, bringing the death toll of a shipwreck last week to 62, according to Malaysian authorities.

Mohamad Faaiz Mohd Noor, director commander of Klang Maritime District Operations, said the body was found at about 3:25 p.m. local time (0735 GMT) around six nautical miles from the site of the incident.

The search and rescue operations would continue on Tuesday, he added.

Malaysia's state news agency Bernama quoted a local police chief as saying that seven bodies had been claimed by their family members and were on the way back to Indonesia, and five more would be claimed soon.

Up to now, 62 bodies of victims have been retrieved by the search and rescue team, including 23 women, a girl and 38 men, while 20 people, including a woman, were rescued.

It was reported that the capsized boat, believed to be carrying about 80 people when the tragedy happened, could only accommodate between 10 and 15 passengers.

An official of Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) said there were two possible causes for the accident - overloading or bad weather.

The boat capsized early Thursday off Malaysia's western coast in the Malacca Strait, and most of the passengers were believed to be Indonesian migrants. Endi