‘Hungry and weak’: 58 Rohingya refugees attain Indonesia after weeks at sea

Dozens of hungry and weak Rohingya Muslims have been discovered on a seashore in Indonesia’s northernmost province of Aceh on Sunday after weeks at sea.

New Delhi,UPDATED: Dec 27, 2022 11:44 IST

Indonesian cops watch a bunch of Rohingya folks after they landed on Indra Patra seashore in Ladong village, Aceh province (Photo: AP)

By India Today Web Desk: A gaggle of 58 Rohingya refugees at sea for greater than a month landed at a fishing village in Indonesia’s Aceh Besar district early on Sunday.

Villagers who noticed the group on a rickety wood boat helped them on to Indrapatra seashore at Ladong, a fishing village, after which reported their arrival to authorities, stated Rolly Yuiza Away, the police chief.

Security officers stand by Rohingya refugees after they arrived on Indrapatra seashore (AP Photo)

“They look very weak from hunger and dehydration. Some of them are sick after a long and severe voyage at sea,” stated Away, including that the boys acquired meals and water from villagers and others as they waited for additional directions from immigration and native officers in Aceh.

A Rohingya refugee drinks water whereas resting on a seashore following his arrival by boat (Photo: AFP)

At least three of the boys have been rushed to a well being clinic for medical care, and others are additionally receiving varied medical remedies, Away stated.

The United Nations and different teams on Friday urged international locations in South Asia to rescue a ship of Rohingya refugees that has been adrift for a number of weeks within the Andaman Sea.

“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 company (UNHCR) stated in a press release.

“Many are girls and kids, with experiences of as much as 20 folks dying on the unseaworthy vessel in the course of the journey,” it added.

The wood boat carrying dozens of Rohingya Muslims landed within the northern most province on Sunday (AP Photo)

On Monday, the UNHRC stated a separate boat with 180 Rohingya was presumed drowned, and that 2022 may find yourself as one of many deadliest for the neighborhood pressured to flee its dwelling in Myanmar due to ethnic violence.

Away stated one of many males on the boat that reached Ladong spoke some Malay and stated they’d been at sea for greater than a month, aiming to land in Malaysia to hunt a greater life and work there.

More than 700,000 Rohingya have fled from Buddhist-majority Myanmar to refugee camps in Bangladesh since August 2017, when the Myanmar army launched a clearance operation in response to assaults by a insurgent group. Myanmar forces have been accused of mass rapes, killings and the burning of hundreds of properties.

Read | India’s refugee coverage amid Rohingya controversy | Explained

Groups of Rohingya have tried to depart the crowded camps in Bangladesh and take hazardous sea voyages to different international locations within the area.

Malaysia has been a standard vacation spot for boats, as traffickers promise the refugees a greater life there. But many Rohingya refugees who land in Malaysia face detention.

Although Indonesia shouldn’t be a signatory to the UN’s 1951 Refugee Convention, the UNHCR stated a 2016 presidential regulation supplies a nationwide authorized framework governing the remedy of refugees on boats in misery close to Indonesia and to assist them disembark.

These provisions have been applied for years, most just lately final month when about 219 Rohingya refugees, together with 63 girls and 40 youngsters, have been rescued off the coast of North Aceh district on board two rickety boats.

(With company enter)

Read | 160 sea-borne Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh feared adrift in Andaman Sea

Published On:

Dec 27, 2022