LANGKAWI — The death toll from the sinking of a boat carrying members of Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority climbed to 27 today, as a survivor recalled a harrowing journey that left him floating for days in the Andaman Sea.

“I saw one person die. They drowned,” Iman Sharif told reporters shortly after he was rescued today and taken into custody by Malaysian authorities.

Iman said he was aboard a large boat for eight days before being transferred to a smaller one with around 70 people. But the vessel sank shortly after, and he clung on to wreckage for days before washing up on a Malaysian island.

Malaysian and Thai authorities have widened a search for dozens of people still missing in the waters near the border between the two countries.

Nine bodies were recovered today, including one in Thailand, officials said.

For years, many Rohingya have embarked on rickety wooden boats to try to reach neighbouring countries, including Muslim-majority Malaysia and Indonesia as well as Thailand, bidding to flee persecution in Myanmar or overcrowded refugee camps in Bangladesh.

Thirteen other survivors have been found in Malaysian waters since Saturday and 12 bodies, Romli Mustafa, regional director at Malaysia’s maritime agency, said yesterday.

Romli earlier said his counterparts in Thailand had found nine bodies, though a Thai official in Satun province later told Reuters that six had been recovered.