An overloaded wooden boat carrying nearly 100 immigrants from Indonesia sank in the Strait of Malacca off Malaysia’s west coast.  Malaysian officials fear as many as 66 people may have drowned.

“This was an illegal boat and all the passengers were Indonesian,” said Muhammad Zuri, an official with the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency.  Only 31 people had been rescued.

Zuri said the Indonesians were undocumented workers and their families who were leaving Malaysia to go back home for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.  They only made it as far as three miles off Banting, which sent two rescue boats to try to pick up survivors.