Malaysian officials said on Wednesday that the wooden boat that sank on the Strait of Malacca, carrying 97 people in all, had not been fit for a sea voyage.

The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency said it had already sent one boat to search for survivors and that it was sending two more.

"This was an illegal boat and all the passengers were Indonesian," a spokesman for the agency told the Reuters news agency. According to Malaysia's New Straits Times, the boat sank some two miles (about three kilometers) from the coastal town of Banting.

According to the maritime agency, the passengers included women and children, with only 31 people rescued in initial efforts.

Those on board were believed to have been trying to travel between Malaysia and Indonesia illegally. It remained initially unclear if they were trying to enter Malaysia or return home to Indonesia for a Muslim festival.

There was no immediate account as to why the boat had capsized.

rc/crh (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)