Strife as migrants arrive by hundreds
NEARLY 2 000 boat people from Myanmar and Bangladesh have been rescued or swum to shore in Malaysia and Indonesia, authorities said yesterday, warning that more migrants could be in peril at sea.
The spate of arrivals comes as Thailand, a key stop on a Southeast Asian people-smuggling route, cracks down following the finding of mass graves that has laid bare the extent of the thriving trade.
Thousands of impoverished Muslim Rohingya – a minority unwanted by the Buddhist Myanmar government – and Bangladeshis brave a perilous sea and land trafficking route through Thailand and into Malaysia, Indonesia and beyond every year.
Malaysian police said human traffickers had dumped at least 1 018 hungry migrants off the coast of the resort island of Langkawi since Sunday.
“We know there are more boats out there that want to come in,” Langkawi police chief Haritth Kam Abdullah said, citing police intelligence.
Indonesian authorities said they intercepted a boat off the coast of Aceh in the northwest yesterday with 400 people onboard, a day after 573 people – described by an official as “sad and broken, tired and distressed” – came to shore in Aceh.
A vessel found off Indonesia was still at sea, shadowed by the country’s navy.
Aceh search and rescue chief Budiawan, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said authorities were bracing for further arrivals.
Bangladeshi Abdul Rahim, 25, who swam ashore at Langkawi, said he had endured a 28-day journey on a ship operated by Myanmar smugglers and packed with hundreds of other people.