69 Rohingya refugees rescued from capsized ship
MEULABOH, Indonesia: Dozens of Rohingya refugees stranded on the rusty hull of a capsized ship were rescued yesterday after the dehydrated and sunburnt group had drifted at sea for more than a day.
The group included 69 men, women and children, some who had been at sea for weeks on a rickety wooden boat from squalid camps in Bangladesh where many of the heavily persecuted Myanmar minority have fled.
The reddish hull of the vessel poking out of the water was the Rohingyas’ only refuge after their wooden boat and another vessel trying to help them both capsized on Wednesday.
The second boat, belonging to local fishermen, overturned when the refugees tried to climb on in a panic.
“Why did the boat capsize? There was heavy rain,” said a 27-year-old survivor who gave his name as Dostgior in broken Indonesian.
Survivors estimated around 150 Rohingya had been on board with dozens swept away, according to local fishermen and the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), in what would represent another tragedy at sea for the heavily persecuted Myanmar minority.
“The total victims rescued (alive) is 69,” the local search and rescue agency said in a statement, adding nine children, 42 men and 18 women were saved.
The authorities were taking them to shore in West Aceh capital Meulaboh on Thursday after spotting them in waters off the coast, the local search and rescue agency said. The boats sank 30 kilometres off the coast in West Aceh.
Thousands of the mostly Muslim minority risk their lives each year on long and expensive sea journeys, often on flimsy boats, to try to reach Malaysia or Indonesia.
But they often do so during Indonesia’s monsoon season when conditions can drag them to land, making their journeys even more hazardous.
AFP footage from the boat showed men, women and children being taken to safety by the local search and rescue agency.
“I’d been at sea for 15 days, but there are others here who have been here longer than that. Some have been here for a month,” said Dostgior.
The refugee said he had travelled from Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh where many Rohingya have fled.
“In Bangladesh, I met someone who could take me to Indonesia. My goal in going to Indonesia is to pay someone to take me to Malaysia. Once in Malaysia, I will pay someone else to enter,” he told AFP.
Many Rohingya make the perilous 4,000-kilometre journey from Bangladesh to Malaysia, fuelling a multi-million dollar human-smuggling operation that often involves stopovers in Indonesia.
Other refugees said they were from Myanmar and had tried to reach Thailand but were rejected, West Aceh fishing community secretary-general Pawang Amiruddin told AFP Wednesday.
The United Nations refugee agency’s protection associate Faisal Rahman said it was waiting for the evacuation team to arrive back to land to get ‘clear and firm data’ on those rescued.
On Wednesday, six Rohingya from the same vessel were rescued by fishermen.
One of those survivors said dozens of refugees had been swept away by currents and were missing or feared dead.