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Four Indonesians were rescued in the waters near Pedra Branca by Singapore's Police Coast Guard (PCG) and navy after the men jumped from a stalled motorised boat early Thursday (April 20).
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said on Thursday that it received a report on the incident at 2.53am.
The boat was about 0.7 nautical mile north-east of Pedra Branca, within Singapore territorial waters, the MPA said in a statement.
The men were part of a group of more than 100 people - including 22 women, two of them pregnant, and four children - believed to be illegal migrants working in Malaysia and making their way back to their home towns when the boat ran out of fuel, Indonesian media reported.
They were later transferred to an Indonesian Marine Police vessel that took them to Batam, where they were held for questioning.
The MPA said one person is still unaccounted for, and that according to those rescued, there was a total of 108 people on board the boat.
It has also issued navigational broadcasts for ships to look for the missing person, and Singapore is coordinating search-and-rescue operations with the Indonesian authorities.
The Straits Times understands that two navy patrol vessels, the RSS Freedom and RSS Daring, as well as three PCG vessels were deployed for the search-and-rescue operations.
However, Indonesian police said that all the passengers aboard the boat are safe. Colonel Saptono Erlangga, Riau Islands province police spokesman, said no one is missing.
Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen posted an image of the passengers aboard their packed boat on Facebook, and said Singapore's Maritime Security Task Force, operating off Changi, had spotted a motorised boat which had lost power and was drifting around the waters off Pedra Branca.
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapo...-guard-navy-near-pedra-branca-1-still-missing
