Rescuers have found the bodies of nine deceased victims of a passenger boat capsizing incident that occurred earlier this week in Myanmar's southern region of Tanintharyi.
A local fire official confirmed the discovery of the nine additional victims, which raises the incident's confirmed death toll to 17. Another nine people are still reported missing while 11 of the 73 survivors are being treated in hospital due to injuries suffered from the mishap.
The incident occurred at around 21:15 local time on Sunday, October 20, when the unnamed boat was struck by a strong whirlpool, which then caused it to overturn in Tanintharyi's Myeik district.
Bad weather in the area has made it difficult for emergency response teams to scour the surrounding waters for any trace of the missing passengers.
Fatal maritime accidents are not uncommon in Myanmar. However, only partial casualty figures have been made available due to censorship by the country's current military regime.