Rescuers recover one body from inside capsized dredger off Malaysia

MUAR, Malaysia, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Rescuers searching for the missing crew members of a capsized dredger off Malaysia recovered one body from inside the ship on Saturday morning, as death toll from the tragedy rose to two since the sand dredger capsized off the southern state of Johor in the Malacca Strait on Wednesday morning.

Another two bodies were also found in the search operation waters in the last 24 hours, but authorities are yet to confirm their identities and cannot confirm whether they are from the crew members, said Sanifah bin Yusof, deputy director of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency Southern Region.

Sanifah said diving operations carried out by professional and military "frogmen" will continue under the water to sweep every compartment, while surface search involving helicopters will expand to make sure no trace will be missed.

As for the two crew members saved by rescuers on Friday, a doctor from Muar hospital said their conditions are now stable and they have been moved from "emergency wards to normal ones."

Malaysia launched search and rescue operations involving multi-agencies including the coast guard, the navy and the police after the incident.

There were a total of 18 onboard the ship, including 16 Chinese, one Malaysian and one Indonesian. Three Chinese were rescued previously while one was dead. Another two Chinese were rescued by divers on Friday after being trapped inside the ship for more than 50 hours. Enditem