Thai authorities spot boat carrying hundreds of migrants near Malaysian border waters

BANGKOK – A Thai provincial governor says authorities have spotted a boat carrying hundreds of migrants near Malaysian border waters.

Satun provincial governor Dejrat Simsiri said navy and fishing boats working for the government were monitoring the boats.

He said it was “unlikely that we will bring them to shore because the mainland is too far and we will need order from higher officials before we can proceed.”

More than 1,600 men, women and children from Myanmar and Bangladesh aboard crowded wooden boats have landed on Indonesia and Malaysia in recent days.

Thousands more are believed to be aboard vessels stranded in waters north of the Malacca Strait after human traffickers and captains abandoned the ships.

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