JAKARTA: Three passengers on a small speedboat carrying 11 people, believed to be Malaysians, died as the vessel drifted in the Sulawesi Sea for eight days after running out.

The eight others were rescued at about 10am on Sunday by fishing vessels and brought to Tolitoli in Central Sulawesi, said Ilham, secretary of Ogotua Mukim, as quoted by Antara news agency.

The boat was believed to have ran out of fuel while searching for the direction to Tawi-Tawi in the Philippines due to a compass failure.

Ilham said skipper Sapil Mahmud, 40, had identified the dead as Rosida, 30s, her two-year-old son Arisman and a 16-month-old boy Jonathan. He said the boat was from Lahad Datu in Sabah when the mishap occurred.

He said the skipper had tried in vain for four hours to search for the direction to Tawi-Tawi after the compass failed and the boat ran out of fuel.

Ilham said the woman and the boys succumbed to starvation and the heat. The boat had also run out of food and water.

The bodies have been brought to the Ogotua community health centre in Tolitoli Utara and might be buried late Sunday, he said, adding that the other passengers had also been brought there for treatment.

Ilham said the survivors were Abd Siman Abbani, 34, Hiya Jaini, 40, Naslin, six, Rosima, three, Ronal Karsa, 39, Jonathan's father (unidentified), Ema Karsa (Jonathan's mother) and Jonathan's sister, Jasmin Roy, five.

"They are under treatment and the important thing is to make sure their condition is stable," he said.

Meanwhile, three fishermen from Lingayan, an island off Tolitoli, who had stumbled upon the drifting boat gave their statements to the Tolitoli Utara police station.

Charge d'affaires at the Malaysian embassy in Jakarta, Amran Mohamed Zain, when contacted, said they are getting more information on the incident and would send assistance if they were confirmed to be Malaysians.