More than 20 Chinese nationals are missing at sea after a boat capsized off the coast of Cambodia, an official said yesterday.
The boat carrying 41 Chinese people experienced difficulties off Sihanoukville on Thursday, and only 18 of those on board had been rescued, 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.
However, there have been growing reports of Chinese workers being trafficked or smuggled to work in the city illegally.
Police questioned those they had rescued while the search for the others continued, Kheang 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 Sept. 11.
Nearly a week later, they were transferred to a wooden boat with two Cambodian crew members in international waters, and that vessel began to sink after breaking down on Thursday, Chuon said.
He said a fishing boat picked up the two Cambodians and left, abandoning them and their boat in the sea.
They have been detained for questioning, Kheang said.
Cambodian authorities have been cracking 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 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 confinement and torture, illegal gambling, prostitution and human trafficking.
About 40 Vietnamese workers at a Cambodian casino last month escaped and swam across a river back to their homeland, while in July dozens of Indonesians were rescued from a scam operation in Sihanoukville, media reported.
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