23 missing in Borneo boat accident

KUALA LUMPUR: Divers have been sent to search for 23 people missing after a boat capsized in churning rapids on a remote Borneo river while overloaded with people heading home for a festival, police said yesterday.
The accident occurred Tuesday morning on the Rajang river, Malaysia’s longest, but search and rescue efforts have been hampered by the remote location deep in the rugged jungle interior of Borneo in the state of Sarawak.
“We know where the boat is but it will take our teams some hours to get there,” said Bakar Anak Sebau, police chief of the town of Belaga.
“As far as we know, 23 people are still missing but we are hoping for some good news on that.”
Bakar said a Malaysian media report that two bodies had been found was incorrect.
The boat was heading downstream from Belaga, massively overloaded with travelers on the move for the coming weekend’s Gawai festival, an important annual cultural and religious observance for indigenous Borneo tribes.