100 Rohingya stranded at sea for weeks feared dead: UN refugee agency
The United Nations refugee agency says 100 Rohingya stranded at sea for weeks after leaving Bangladesh last month are now feared dead.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), citing unconfirmed reports, said on Saturday the "unseaworthy" boat probably sank after it went missing.
Two Myanmar Rohingya activist groups recently said up to 20 Rohingya were feared dead due to thirst, hunger, or drowning, after a boat carrying at least 100 Rohingya was stranded off India's Andaman Islands for two weeks.
Meanwhile, dozens of hungry and weak Rohingya Muslims landed on the shores of Indonesia's Aceh province after being adrift at sea for weeks.
Local police chief Rolly Yuiza Away said on Sunday 58 men, mostly from the minority group, arrived on Indrapatra beach at Ladong, a fishing village in Aceh Besar district. Villagers who saw them on a rickety wooden boat helped them come to shore before informing the authorities, he added. “They look very weak from hunger and dehydration. Some of them are sick after a long and severe voyage at sea,” Away said. The men received food and water from villagers and others as they waited for further instructions from immigration and local officials in Aceh, Away said.
On Friday, the UNHRC called on regional governments to rescue at least 190 Rohingya people adrift between the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal.
Away said it was not immediately clear where the group was traveling from or if they were part of the group of 190 Rohingya refugees that has been adrift in the Andaman Sea.
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