"The bodies of four women and six men washed up to shore while 19 other men and two women were rescued. The boat's 29 other victims are still missing. A search and rescue operation is ongoing to find them", a spokesperson for the Johor Fire and Rescue Department said, as quoted by the newspaper Star.
The rescue services had determined that there were 60 people on board and that the boat capsised at about 5:00 a.m. local time on Wednesday (21:40 GMT on Thursday) by interviewing the surviving passengers, the spokesman said.
The representative of the department said that local services had launched a search and rescue operation with the assistance of the Malaysian Navy.
The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency believes that all passengers entered Malaysian waters illegally before the vessel wrecked off the coast due to poor weather conditions.