JAKARTA (Reuters) – A 280-strong search-and-rescue team scoured the waters off an Indonesian island for dozens missing on Thursday, a day after a speedboat carrying mostly migrant workers struck a reef and sank, the national disaster mitigation agency said.
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The accident happened as the boat was heading from the southern Malaysian state of Johor towards Indonesia’s Batam island, just south of Singapore.
The boat, carrying 98 workers and three crew, hit the reef in strong winds and big waves. Eighteen people were killed, 39 were found alive and 44 were missing. [/restrict]