400 Rohingya Muslims on board two boats adrift in the Andaman Sea

5 December 2023, 09:04

Rohingya refugees
Bangladesh Rohingya Refugees. Picture: PA

Aid agencies have warned that the refugees could die if they are not rescued.

An estimated 400 Rohingya Muslims believed to be aboard two boats adrift in the Andaman Sea without adequate supplies could die if more is not done to rescue them, the UN has said.

The number of Rohingya Muslims fleeing by boats – usually from squalid, overcrowded refugee camps in Bangladesh – has been rising since last year due to cuts to food rations and a spike in gang violence.

Babar Baloch, the UN refugee agency’s regional spokesperson, told The Associated Press: “There are about 400 children, women and men looking death in the eye if there are no moves to save these desperate souls.”

The location of the other boat is unclear.

The boats apparently embarked from Bangladesh and are reported to have been at sea for about two weeks, Mr Baloch said.

When contacted by reporters, the captain of one of the boats said he had 180 to 190 people on board. They are out of food and water and the engine was damaged. The captain, who gave his name as Maan Nokim, said he feared all on board will die if they do not receive help.

On Sunday, Mr Nokim said the boat was 200 miles from Thailand’s west coast. However, a Thai navy spokesperson later said he had no information about the boats.

Mr Baloch said the location is about the same distance from Indonesia’s northernmost province of Aceh, where another boat with 139 people landed on Saturday on Sabang Island, off the tip of Sumatra.

Those on the ship included 58 children, 45 women and 36 men – the typical balance of those making the sea journey, he said. Hundreds more arrived in Aceh last month.

About 740,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar to the camps in Bangladesh since August 2017, after a brutal counterinsurgency campaign tore through their communities.

Myanmar security forces have been accused of mass rapes, killings and the burning of thousands of Rohingya homes, and international courts are considering whether their actions constituted genocide.

Rohingya fleeing
Ethnic Rohingya disembark from their boat upon landing in Ulee Madon, North Aceh, Indonesia, last month (AP)

Most of the refugees leaving the camps by sea attempt to reach Muslim-dominated Malaysia, hoping to find work there. Thailand turns them away or detains them.

Indonesia, another Muslim-dominated country where many end up, also puts them in detention.

Mr Baloch said if the two boats adrift are not given assistance, the world “may witness another tragedy such as in December 2022, when a boat with 180 aboard went missing in one of the darkest such incidents in the region”.

Aid group Save The Children said in a November 22 report that 465 Rohingya children had arrived in Indonesia by boat over the previous week and the the number of refugees taking to the seas had increased by more than 80%.

It said more than 3,570 Rohingya Muslims had left Bangladesh and Myanmar this year, up from nearly 2,000 in the same period of 2022. Of those who left this year, 225 are known to have died or were missing, with many others not accounted for.

Sultana Begum, the group’s manager for humanitarian policy and advocacy, said: “The desperate situation of Rohingya families is forcing them to take unacceptable risks in search of a better life. These perilous journeys show that many Rohingya refugees have lost all hope.”

By Press Association

Latest World News

See more Latest World News

Netanyahu

Netanyahu vows to refute ‘absurd’ corruption charges

c

Bashar Al Assad’s in-laws ‘flew to Moscow 10 days ago’ to join daughter as couple seek asylum in Russia, claim neighbours

Kim Yong Hyun making a speech

Prosecutors seek arrest of defence minister over imposition of martial law

Luigi Mangione, a suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson (Pennsylvania Department of Corrections via AP)

Man suspected of killing UnitedHealthcare boss held without bail

A protester wearing a Netanyahu mask outside his trial in Tel Aviv

Netanyahu gives evidence for first time in corruption trial

Israeli soldiers standing next to an armoured vehicle

Israel launches airstrikes across Syria as troops seize more territory

Israel Netanyahu’s Trial Explainer

Israel’s Netanyahu is set to give evidence in long-running corruption trial

Hildale, Utah, with mountains in the background

Cult leader who claimed underage girls among his ‘wives’ jailed for 50 years

A man holding up two nooses in Saydnaya prison

Thousands flock to Assad regime prison in search for missing loved ones

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Benjamin Netanyahu to take stand in corruption trial

South Korea Martial Law

South Korean prosecutors seek to arrest ex-defence minister over martial law

Philippines Volcano

Mass evacuation of Philippine villages underway after volcanic eruption

The UK has paused decisions on asylum applications from Syrians following the collapse of Bashar Assad's regime.

UK pauses Syrian asylum claims as ex-MI6 boss warns jihadis pose 'chronic' threat to West's security

Woman waves Syrian flag

Syrian government services come to ‘complete halt’ as workers stay at home

Peach from the jacket of his owner, Vladislav Duda

Ukrainian man fleeing war rescued with his kitten on journey through Romania

A police officer and German Shepherd dog walk beneath a wooden walkway

Man, 26, arrested with gun ‘consistent with’ one used to kill insurance chief