DOZENS OF HUNGRY AND WEAK ROHINGYA LAND IN INDONESIA AFTER A MONTH ADRIFT AT SEA

Mon 26 December 2022:

After weeks at sea, dozens of weak and starving Rohingya refugees were discovered on a beach in Aceh, Indonesia’s most northern province, authorities said.

According to the local police commander Rolly Yuiza Away, the group of 58 men landed on Indrapatra beach at Ladong, a fishing village in Aceh Besar district, early on Sunday.

Villagers who saw the men from the mostly Muslim ethnic group on a rickety wooden boat helped them to land and then reported their arrival to authorities, he said.

“They look very weak from hunger and dehydration. Some of them are sick after a long and severe voyage at sea,” said Away, adding that the men received food and water from villagers and others as they waited for further instructions from immigration and local officials in Aceh.

According to Away, at least three of the guys were sent directly to a medical facility for treatment, while others were having various medical procedures.

On Friday, the United Nations and other organizations urged nations in South Asia to save up to 190 individuals who were reportedly Rohingya refugees who were on a small boat that has been drifting in the Andaman Sea for several weeks.

“Reports indicate those onboard have now remained at sea for a month in dire conditions with insufficient food or water, without any efforts by States in the region to help save human lives,” the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said in a statement. “Many are women and children, with reports of up to 20 people dying on the unseaworthy vessel during the journey.”

Away said it was not immediately clear where the group was travelling from or if they were part of the group of 190 Rohingya refugees that has been adrift in the Andaman Sea. But one of the men who spoke some Malay said they had been at sea for more than a month and had aimed to land in Malaysia to seek a better life and work there.

Each year, thousands of Rohingya put their lives in danger by embarking on risky journeys to other countries in the area with a Muslim majority.

The UNHCR reported earlier this month that such journeys have increased “dramatic,” in part because to the worsening conditions in the camps where they are housed in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar and Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

The UNHCR estimates that between January and November this year, 1,920 people, predominantly Rohingya, escaped Myanmar and Bangladesh by sea, compared to just 287 in 2021.

Since August 2017, when the Myanmar military began a clearance operation in response to attacks by a rebel group, more than 700,000 Rohingya have been forcibly relocated from Buddhist-majority Myanmar to refugee camps in Bangladesh. The security forces in Myanmar have been accused with widespread rapes, murders, and the burning of tens of thousands of homes.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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