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Agence France-Presse

One person died and more than 20 are missing at sea after a boat carrying Chinese nationals sank off the coast of Cambodia, an official said on Friday.
The boat with 41 Chinese people on board got into difficulties off Sihanoukville on Thursday, Preah Sihanouk provincial spokesman Kheang Phearom said.
The once-quiet fishing village of Sihanoukville has been transformed by a Chinese investment boom in recent years, with dozens of casinos opening.
But there have been growing reports of Chinese workers being trafficked or smuggled to work in the city illegally.
Kheang Phearom said 19 people have been rescued and the body of a woman recovered from the water.
Officials are searching for the others, he said.
Provincial police chief Chuon Narin told pro-government media outlet Fresh News that a representative of the group told police they left China from a port in Guangdong province by speedboat on September 11.
‘Hell on Earth’: Malaysian’s death at 23 linked to Asia’s scam gangs
Nearly a week later they were transferred to a wooden boat with two Cambodian crew members in international waters, the police chief said, and that vessel began to sink after breaking down on Thursday.
He said a fishing boat picked up the two Cambodians and left, abandoning them and their boat in the sea.
According to Kheang Phearom, the Cambodians had also been detained for questioning.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Beijing was in “close contact” with Cambodian officials.
China “requests that the Cambodian side make full efforts to carry out search and rescue operations, and quickly confirm and find out relevant circumstances,” Wang said.
Cambodian authorities have been trying to crack down on people-smuggling and trafficking networks following widespread reports of people from other Southeast Asian countries being tricked into migrating for job opportunities billed as lucrative.


There have been multiple recent reports of Chinese workers duped into working in casinos or online scam operations in Sihanoukville and prevented from leaving.
Police and immigration officials raided a compound in the city earlier this month and detained more than 140 foreigners working illegally, 130 of them Chinese.
Officials said they had found evidence of illegal confinement and torture, illegal gambling, prostitution and human trafficking.
Along with thousands of mobile phones and hundreds of computers, officers also seized handcuffs, electric batons and electric shock equipment.
Last month around 40 Vietnamese workers at a Cambodian casino broke out and swam across a river back to their homeland, while in July dozens of Indonesians were rescued from a scam operation in Sihanoukville, according to media reports.


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Cambodia

1 dead, 22 Chinese nationals missing after boat capsizes off Cambodia

A boat carrying 41 Chinese nationals capsized off Sihanoukville, Cambodia, on Thursday. File photo: SCMP

Cambodia’s Chinese scam gangs are forcing desperate young Asians into crime – and the pandemic only made things worse

Taiwanese police escort two suspects who were deported from Bangkok earlier this month and are believed to be involved in scam cases in Cambodia. Photo: Taiwan Criminal Investigation Bureau via AP

A Chinese-owned casino in northwestern Laos near the border with Thailand and Myanmar. Trafficking victims are often lured by the scam gangs with promises of lucrative casino jobs. Photo: AFP

Riot police in Bangkok. Thai police believe more than US$1 billion was conned from their country’s citizens amid the pandemic. Photo: AP

Malaysian victim’s death linked to Asia’s ‘hell on Earth’ scam trade

Malaysian Yang Fei Pin holds her phone showing a photograph of her late son Goi Zhen Feng. He died aged 23 in hospital in Thailand near the border with Myanmar, his death thought to be linked to scam gangs. Photo: Aidan Jones 

Malaysian Yang Fei Pin holds her phone showing a photograph of her late son Goi Zhen Feng. Photo: SCMP / Aidan Jones 

Malaysians Yang Fei Pin and Goi Chee Kong at the cremation service for their son Goi Zhen Feng in Thailand on Thursday. Photo: SCMP / Aidan Jones 

Malaysian Goi Zhen Feng’s parents in Si Racha, Thailand, on Thursday at a Buddhist cremation ceremony for their 23-year-old son. Photo: SCMP / Aidan Jones

Malaysia sets up Hong Kong-style ‘special committee’ to rescue Southeast Asia job scam victims

Malaysian victims of job scams attend a press conference in Petaling Jaya, near Kuala Lumpur, on September 21. Photo: AP

Malaysian nationals rescued from human traffickers in Cambodia arrive at Kuala Lumpur airport on September 9. Photo: AP

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Asia

Southeast Asia

China


An official said the boat carrying 41 people got into difficulties off Sihanoukville, and only 19 of those on board had been rescued
One of the passengers told police they left China from a port in Guangdong province by speedboat on September 11



An official said the boat carrying 41 people got into difficulties off Sihanoukville, and only 19 of those on board had been rescued.


Chinese overseas