Nine people, including five Australians and two British tourists, were saved in a huge rescue operation after a boat capsized in stormy seas off Sabah today, police and officials said, but one person is dead and one remains missing.

"The five Australians were picked up at sea. They are being treated for minor injuries. Two locals were also rescued," said Mohamad Zain Yacob, acting police chief for Sandakan, a coastal town in Sabah.

Mohamad later said two British tourists were rescued but one local woman died and another man was missing after the boat, ferrying people to an island off Borneo, capsized late morning.

"A local man is still missing while the wife of the boatman died due to drowning," he said.

Meanwhile the Australian High Commission confirmed that five Australians had been rescued along with two British tourists.

"The Australian government appreciates the quick and effective response of the Malaysian authorities," an Australian High Commission official here told AFP.

Police earlier launched a massive search and rescue operation involving the marine police and the navy around the Padas river mouth, although they were hampered by rough weather.

The boat was ferrying the foreign tourists and four local staff from tour company the Wildlife Expedition.

Elsa Suliah, a official with the Wildlife Expedition, told AFP the Australians were heading to the nearby Libaran island when the boat capsized.

"It is a 30-minute journey. They were in a medium size boat," she told AFP.

Red alert

The Malaysian Meteorological Department early today issued a red alert, the highest-level warning, on the possibility of heavy rain and rough seas in Sabah. It warned against all marine activities including ferry and beach outings.

The incident comes after Malaysia on Saturday kicked off a year-long campaign to attract more tourists.

"Please come to Malaysia. This is the best choice, the best choice for you," Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said in a speech televised nationally and which organisers said was beamed to 10 countries, including Japan and Australia.

Malaysia hopes the campaign will increase the number of tourist arrivals to 20.1 million in 2007 from some 17.5 million in 2006, and boost tourism income to RM44.5 billion.

Faced with growing regional competition for the tourist dollar, Malaysia is shelling out some RM200 million during the year to boost tourism, which is the nation's second-largest foreign exchange earner.