Overloaded boat capsizes in Malaysia, 21 missing

Twenty-one people were missing after an overloaded boat carrying an estimated 100 passengers capsized Tuesday in a remote Malaysian jungle river, police and a local official said.

The accident occurred on Malaysia's longest river, the Rajang, which flows from deep in the rugged interior of Borneo island in the state of Sarawak, Bakar Anak Sebau, police chief of the remote town of Belaga, told AFP.

"An express boat carrying about 100 people has capsized in a swift-flowing river. I believe there were women and children onboard," he said.

He said the boat was believed to have struck a rock while navigating downstream from Belaga through one of many sections of rapids on the 560-kilometre (347-mile) waterway.

"The boat was overloaded," he said.

Abdul Halim Abdullah, the state government's local administrator for Belaga, told AFP the boat capsized downstream from the town as it was headed toward the coast.

Police rescuers were heading toward the accident site, Bakar said, adding that he had no information on any casualties.