KUALA LUMPUR - TWELVE Indonesians drowned early on Tuesday after a wooden boat carrying dozens of suspected illegal migrants capsized off the coast of Malaysia, maritime officials said.

The boat, believed to be carrying about 150 people, sank 1.2 nautical miles off Port Klang on the west coast en route to Indonesia's Sumatra island.

Police said they believed the Indonesians were heading home for the Eid al-Fitr holidays, marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

'We suspect the boat was overloaded. It is a wooden boat meant for carrying goods and not for ferrying people. But it is usually used to carry illegals,' local marine police chief Marzuki Ismail said.

Local police chief Mohamad Mat Yusop said the 12 victims were women.

Survivor Nur Najihah, 22, said the boat capsized so quickly that she lost her grip on her 14-month old infant, Indra Putra Asli, the state Bernama news agency reported.

She swam in the open sea to search for her son before discovering he had been rescued by other passengers.

Malaysia has launched a 60-strong search and rescue operation involving teams of divers and has recovered 112 survivors. It is not known how many people remain in the water.

Mr Mohamad said the survivors would be brought to the local police station where Indonesian embassy representatives would help officers establish their identities.

'Those who are illegals, we will have to deport them back,' he said.

There are an estimated 1.1 million legal foreign workers, mostly Indonesians, in Malaysia, officials have said. -- AFP