DHAKA - A motorboat with 110 illegal migrants on board capsized in the Bay of Bengal close to Bangladesh's southeastern border with Myanmar on Wednesday, leaving some 99 people missing, an official said.

Lieutenant Colonel Zahid Hasan, commanding officer of the 42nd Battalion of the Border Guard of Bangladesh (BGB), told Xinhua "We've rescued 11 passengers of the boat."

On receipt of information, he said BGB, Bangladesh Navy and Bangladesh Coast Guard personnel have rushed to the accident scene and rescued the victims in collaboration with fishermen.

Of the eleven, he said two are Rohingya refugees while nine come from many Bangladesh districts. The survivors said they were going to Malaysia in search of work illegally.

The tragedy comes less than a fortnight after a boat with over 135 passengers capsized in the Bay of Bengal near Shah Porir Island in Teknaf close to Bangladesh's southeastern border with Myanmar, leaving an unknown number of people still missing.

They were also going to Malaysia illegally in quest for a better life.