Ferry sinks, 10 drown

BANGKOK: A ferry carrying about 70 people to the Thai resort island of Phuket sank in bad weather on Saturday and at least 10 people died, a news report said. As many as 30 people have been rescued, the local television station iTV reported. The vessel, sailing from the island of Yao, was believed to have been overloaded. It was licensed to carry 50 passengers. It was not immediately clear if any foreigners were on board. — AP

7 drug dealers killed

BANGKOK: Seven alleged drug traffickers were shot dead in two incidents in Thailand, police said on Saturday. On Friday, three people — a Thai and two Myanmarese — were killed in the border town of Mae Sot. “It was a sting operation by Narcotics Suppression police. They were killed in a shootout on the Thai side,” Lieutenant Colonel Anuwat Suwanphum said, adding 60,000 methamphetamine tablets were seized. On Saturday, four members of the Wa ethnic minority group were killed while two fled in Chiang Mai’s Sansai district. Police seized 100,000 methamphetamine tablets. — AFP

868 illegal workers held

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian authorities detained 868 people, including 562 Indonesians, in the first three days of a crackdown on illegal foreign workers, a report said on Saturday. They were among more than 11,000 migrants screened after a four-month amnesty ended on Monday, The Star newspaper said. Illegal workers caught face possible fines, jail terms and whipping with a rattan cane before deportation. They are also barred from returning to Malaysia. — AP

12 die in China market fire

BEIJING: A fire at a market in central China where wholesale knit goods were sold killed 12 people on Saturday and left another 21 injured, the government said. The fire occurred at about 1840 GMT on Friday at a market in Zhengzhou, Xinhua said. The injured were being treated in local hospitals and an investigation was underway to find the cause of the blaze, Xinhua said. — AP

Sunni militant arrested

QUETTA: Police have arrested a suspected Sunni Muslim militant wanted for the killing of more than 130 rival Shiites, an official said on Saturday. “We arrested Ramzan Mengal, an activist of banned militant outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, from Quetta on Friday. He is wanted in 130 cases of sectarian killi-ngs,” Quetta police chief said. Police nabbed Mengal, who did not resist arrest, after wat-ching him for three days. The government had offered a reward of one million rupees (about $16,800) for Mengal’s arrest. — AFP