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Phnom Penh (AFP) – 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 Friday.
The boat with 41 Chinese people on board got into difficulties off Sihanoukville on Thursday, provincial spokesperson Kheang Phearom told AFP.
The once-quiet fishing village of Sihanoukville has been transformed by a Chinese investment boom in recent years, with dozens of casinos opening.
There have been growing reports of Chinese workers being trafficked or smuggled into the city to work.
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.
Nearly a week later, they were transferred to a wooden boat with two Cambodian crew members in international waters, the police chief said. 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 spokesperson Wang Wenbin…
