66 feared drowned off Malaysia's Western coast

A Malaysian maritime official has reported two people dead with 35 still missing after a boat sank off the country's western coast.

The official said 60 people, believed to be illegal migrants from Indonesia, had survived the disaster.

Read more: 66 feared drowned off Malaysia's Western Coast

Some 66 people are feared to have drowned after an overloaded wooden boat carrying 97 illegal immigrants from Indonesia sank off Malaysia's western coast, Malaysian officials said

Women and children were among the passengers and the boat was not fit for a sea voyage, said Muhammad Zuri, an official with the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency.

"This was an illegal boat and all the passengers were Indonesian," Zuri told Reuters. Zuri had earlier said that 61 people were missing, but later clarified that only 31 passengers had been rescued.

The agency had sent one boat to the area to search for survivors and was sending two more, the spokesman said.

Read: 66 feared drowned off Malaysia's Western coast

A spokesman for Malaysia's Maritime Agency said they had sent one boat to the area to search for survivors and was sending two more.

Malaysia's New Straits Times said the boat sank around midnight on Tuesday about two miles (3 km) from the coastal town of Banting on the Strait of Malacca.

Some 61 people are missing after a boat carrying 97 passengers, believed to be Indonesians, sank off Western Malaysia, according to the government's Maritime Agency,

The passengers included women and children and were suspected of trying to reach Malaysia illegally, a spokesman for the agency said.

Read: 61 people missing after boat sinks off Western Malaysia