Hundreds were missing on Sunday after a boat sank near the Thailand-Malaysia border, as 10 survivors and one body were recovered, the Malaysian maritime authority said.
Members of the mainly Muslim Rohingya minority periodically flee majority-Buddhist Myanmar, where they are seen as foreign interlopers from South Asia who are denied citizenship and face abuse.
The Malaysia-bound people initially boarded a large vessel but as they neared the border, they were instructed to transfer onto three smaller boats, each carrying about 100 people, to avoid detection by the authorities, Adzli was quoted as saying.
The status of the other two boats was not known, and a search-and-rescue operation was ongoing, he said.
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