Malaysian authorities have recovered at least seven bodies after a boat carrying migrants capsized near the Thai border, a maritime agency official said on Sunday.

Officials believe the boat was carrying undocumented migrants who departed from Myanmar, part of a group of at least 300 people that had split between several vessels.

The boat that capsized near Thailand’s Tarutao Island and just north of Malaysia’s island resort of Langkawi was carrying some 90 people, Kedah state police chief Adzli Abu Shah told Malaysian media.

Romli Mustafa, director of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency in the northern states of Kedah and Perlis, said in a statement that three survivors were found on Sunday in the waters around Langkawi as well as six bodies, taking the overall death toll to seven.

At least 13 people have been rescued alive.

Romli said the bodies recovered on Sunday were of a girl and five women, without disclosing their nationality or ethnicity.

A body found on Saturday is believed to be of a woman from Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya minority, Adzli told the Bernama national news agency.

The search and rescue effort ended for the day and will resume on Monday, Romli added, saying it was possible more survivors or victims could be found at sea.

The boat likely went down three days ago, according to the state police chief.

Two other vessels, believed to be carrying some of the group of 300 migrants who had departed from Myanmar, have also been reported missing, Adzli was quoted as saying by the Free Malaysia Today news website.

He said preliminary investigations showed that the group boarded a large vessel that carried them into waters close to Malaysia.

“As they neared the border they were instructed to transfer onto three smaller boats, each carrying around 100 people,” he told Bernama.

“We have requested the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency and the Marine Police to launch search and rescue operations and to look for the other missing boats,” Adzli said, quoted by the New Straits Times.

The Malaysian police force did not respond to AFP’s requests for comment.

Relatively affluent Malaysia is home to millions of migrants from poorer parts of Asia, many of them undocumented, working in industries including construction and agriculture.

But the crossings, facilitated by human trafficking syndicates, are often hazardous, leading to boats capsizing.

“Cross-border syndicates are now increasingly active in exploiting migrants by making them victims of human trafficking using high-risk sea routes,” Romli said.

Syndicates charge up to $3,500 per person for passage into the country, Malaysian media said.

In one of the worst months, in December 2021, more than 20 migrants drowned in several incidents off the Malaysian coast.

China has granted exemptions to export controls on Nexperia chips for civilian applications, the commerce ministry said on Sunday in a move that will help to relieve supply shortages for carmakers and automotive suppliers.

The announcement is the strongest signal yet from Beijing that it will ease pressure on the global auto industry caused by export curbs imposed after the Dutch government took control of Nexperia, a large manufacturer of basic chips used in automotive electrical systems.

Nexperia is based in the Netherlands but owned by the Chinese company Wingtech.

China’s commerce ministry did not specify what it considered to be civilian use, but its announcement follows statements from German and Japanese companies saying that deliveries of Nexperia’s Chinese-made chips had resumed.

Nevertheless, bilateral ties between China and the Netherlands, and by extension the European Union, are likely to remain strained until the dispute over Nexperia’s ownership and operations is resolved.

The Dutch government took control of Nexperia on September 30, saying that Wingtech was planning to move the company’s European production to China and that this would pose a threat to European economic security.

China responded by cutting off exports of the company’s finished chips, which are mostly packaged in China, though it said last week that it would begin accepting applications for exemptions after a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on October 30.

China’s commerce ministry has repeatedly said it was protecting global chip supply chains while the Netherlands was failing to take action to resolve the dispute.

The ministry’s statement on Sunday said that China hoped the EU would “further intensify” efforts to urge the Dutch side to revoke its seizure of Nexperia.

“China welcomes the EU to continue leveraging its influence to urge the Netherlands to promptly rectify its erroneous actions,” the ministry added.

Leading wildlife protection experts have urged India to suspend all imports of the world’s most endangered species, endorsing long-running concerns by conservationists about mass acquisitions by mega-zoo Vantara.

The facility in western Gujarat state, officially known as the Green Zoological Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre, is run by the son of Asia’s richest man.

It has scooped up tens of thousands of animals in recent years, and was subject to an Indian Supreme Court review that cleared it of any wrongdoing.

But experts from the world’s top wildlife watchdog — the secretariat overseeing the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) — have warned Vantara may have imported highly endangered species in violation of international rules.

In a report published ahead of CITES talks this month, they found a “large number of imports… appear to be inconsistent” with rules protecting so-called Appendix I species, the world’s most threatened animals.

They recommended serious reforms to ensure Vantara does “not inadvertently become a driver of illegal harvest of wild animals”.

Vantara and India’s environment ministry did not respond to AFP requests for comment.

Experts have repeatedly sounded the alarm on Vantara’s massive animal intake. The facility claims to have 150,000 animals, though CITES officials said closer to 47,000 were reported during a September visit.

“This report raises more questions than it answers,” said Mark Jones, head of policy at wildlife group Born Free.

“Why the discrepancies in numbers? Why import so many animals from so many species across the world… Who is supplying these animals, and how can we be sure they’re not being traded for profit?”

‘Really, really shocking’

CITES examined a laundry list of allegations involving endangered animals, including the world’s most endangered great ape — the Tapanuli orangutan.

AFP earlier this year reported that Vantara had acquired a Tapanuli orangutan from the United Arab Emirates that originated in Indonesia.

CITES prohibits trade in the world’s most endangered species, but there are exceptions, including for “captive-bred” animals.

The Tapanuli orangutan, like many of Vantara’s rarest acquisitions, was given this designation.

But multiple experts told AFP there are no captive breeding programmes for the species in Indonesia, home to all the estimated 800 Tapanuli orangutans left in the world.

Similar cases involving cheetahs from Syria, a gorilla from Haiti, and bonobos from Iraq are among those questioned by CITES.

The report “is evidence of Vantara’s problematic acquisitions,” said Panut Hadisiswoyo, founder and chairman of the Orangutan Information Centre in Indonesia.

He has been lobbying, so far unsuccessfully, for the return of several orangutans in Vantara, including a smuggled animal intercepted in India and handed to the facility.

The CITES report says Vantara has acquired more than 2,000 Appendix I animals and nearly 9,000 from less endangered species.

“It’s really, really shocking, the number is huge,” Panut said.

“Vantara is exploiting legal loopholes and undermining Appendix I.”

‘Exemplary action’

The CITES report acknowledges Vantara’s world-class facilities, but urges India to review its import procedures, bolster capacity, and more closely scrutinise permits.

Independent wildlife trade expert Daniel Stiles said the report was “a true examination” of Vantara.

“We’ll see if anything changes for the better.”

CITES has asked India to report back on its progress, and it could face measures, including trade suspension, if it does not fully address the concerns.

The findings are “deeply concerning and damaging to India’s conservation credibility”, warned K Yoganand, a longtime conservation expert in India and Southeast Asia.

“Restoring India’s global standing, damaged by the irregularities surrounding these imports, will require exemplary action.”