KUALA LUMPUR - INDONESIAN migrant workers who survived a deadly boat accident off Malaysia's coast said they were tricked into paying high prices in their desperation to get home for Eid, reports said on Wednesday.

Twelve people died when the boat, believed to be carrying 130 mainly illegal migrants, sank early on Tuesday off Port Klang on Malaysia's west coast en route to Indonesia's Sumatra island, across the narrow Straits of Malacca.

Most of those aboard were racing to get home to celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr with their families, marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

Survivors said they thought they were buying tickets for a legal ferry operating from a jetty in a nearby island after failing to get air tickets.

Some said they paid up to 500 ringgit (S$208) for tickets, reports said.

They only realised they had been cheated after seeing the rickety wooden boat they were expected to board, the Star daily reported.

'I questioned the captain when I saw the boat because I had paid double the price of an air ticket and was being asked to board a barter trade boat. I was instead scolded,' said Yusmairi Abas, 29.

'Finally, I got on the boat because I desperately wanted to get home. Now, like many others here, I have lost all my savings after years of working here,' he said, according to the newspaper.

Another survivor, Foreman Mohamad Suprim, 43, said the boat was packed with about 130 passengers.

Many were forced to sit on the sides and some were even standing, he said.

Police said 125 people were recovered in the search and rescue operation - 88 men, 32 women, 4 children and an eight-month old infant.

The boat capsized due to overloading as the weather was good at the time of the incident, police said. -- AFP