The United Nations refugee agency has called for the immediate rescue of a group of Rohingya refugees adrift in their boat in the Andaman Sea without food or water, many of them ill and suffering from extreme dehydration.
The UN high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) said it did not know the exact location of the vessel and understood that some passengers had died. The boat had left southern Bangladesh about 10 days ago and experienced engine failure, it said.
“Immediate action is needed to save lives and prevent further tragedy,†UNHCR said in a statement, offering to support governments by providing humanitarian help to those rescued.
A senior Indian coastguard official confirmed to Reuters that the boat has been tracked to an area off the Andaman and Nicobar islands.
At least eight people had died on the boat, according to Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, a group that monitors the Rohingya crisis.
Lewa said Indian navy vessels that were close by had provided food and water. “But we still don’t know what they will do afterwards,†he added.
A spokesperson for India’s navy did not provide details of the situation but said a statement would be issued later.
According to UNHCR, the boat set out from the Bangladesh coastal district of Cox’s Bazar, where about a million Rohingya live in dire conditions in sprawling refugee camps.
In Malaysia meanwhile, activists have made a last-ditch legal bid to halt the deportation Tuesday of 1,200 Myanmar detainees to their homeland weeks after a coup, following a storm of criticism.
The migrants, including members of vulnerable minorities, were arriving at a military base on Malaysia’s west coast, to be loaded on to three vessels sent by the Myanmar navy.
The United States and the UN have criticised the plan, and have called for the UN refugee agency to be granted access to the detainees to assess whether any are asylum seekers.
The UN says it knows of at least six are registered with them and in need of international protection.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled to Bangladesh in 2017 after a deadly crackdown by security forces in Myanmar.
Authorities in Bangladesh said on Monday they were unaware of any boats leaving the camps. “If we had such information, we would have stopped them,†said Rafiqul Islam, an additional police superintendent in Cox’s Bazar.
Amnesty International said in a statement that too many lives had already been lost from countries refusing to assist Rohingya people at sea.
“Another repeat of those shameful incidents must be avoided here,†said Amnesty South Asia campaigner Saad Hammadi.
“After years of limbo in Bangladesh and following the recent coup in Myanmar, Rohingya people feel they have no option but to undertake these perilous journeys.â€
