A Chinese woman died in a boating accident off the coast of Cambodia. A spokesman for regional authorities announced yesterday that another 19 people are still missing. The boat with a total of 41 Chinese on board was in danger off Sihanoukville. According to reports, 21 people were saved, and the woman’s body was recovered from the water.
The former fishing village of Sihanoukville has become a city with dozens of casinos, mainly thanks to Chinese investments in recent years. But there were also growing reports of Chinese workers being smuggled into the city to work illegally.
Local police chief Chuon Narin told the pro-government Fresh News that one of the rescued Chinese told police the group departed on a speedboat on Sept. 11 from a Chinese port in Guangdong province. Nearly a week later, they were loaded onto a wooden boat with two Cambodians on board.
This boat started to sink on Thursday. A fishing boat rescued the two Cambodians, but then sailed away and left the Chinese to fend for themselves at sea. According to the spokesman for the authorities, the two Cambodians were arrested.