11 Die, 19 Missing As Overloaded Boat Sinks Off Myanmar Coast

Rescuers have recovered eleven dead bodies after thirty people in an overloaded boat sank in the Andaman Sea off Myanmar’s southern coast.

A resident told AFP on Monday that the rest of the passengers were still missing.

“We found 10 bodies last night and one this morning,” said a monk from Kyauk Kar village in the southern Tanintharyi region, from where the boat had left Sunday evening.

The boat was carrying mostly students who were returning to Myeik city from the village after a two-week break, according to the monk, who asked for anonymity to talk to the media.

“The boat left from the village at 9 pm (1430 GMT) which was too late already, and it was overloaded and sunk,” he said.

Villagers had carried out cremations for the 11 bodies that had been recovered, he said adding that local rescue teams were searching for the other missing persons.

The monk added that none of the recovered bodies were of the students.

Boat accidents are common in Myanmar, a country with rudimentary transport and weakly enforced safety regulations.

Boats transporting people along the coast and rivers are frequently overloaded, posing serious risks, and accidents can result in devastating loss of life.

Recovering all the bodies can sometimes take several days.