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group of Sri Lankan asylum seekers remain stranded on an Aceh beach as authorities decided on Friday to postpone pulling their boat out to sea until Saturday, as bad weather hit the area.

Local authorities had earlier expressed their determination that the boat, carrying 44 Sri Lankan asylum seekers, would be towed out on Friday afternoon after providing them with food and fuel supplies.

Aceh Governor Zaini Abdullah said authorities in the province had done their part by providing the group with humanitarian assistance and, therefore, they could continue their journey.

On Friday, the governor symbolically handed over humanitarian aid in the form of instant noodles and tents to the group who are reportedly en route to Christmas Island, Australia.

“We will tow the boat out to the ocean so that they can continue their journey,” Zaini said after handing over the supplies.

During the handing over of the noodles and tents, a Sri Lankan asylum seeker demanded the governor allow them stay momentarily in Aceh.

“The boat has many problems, we cannot go. Please, let us stay here,” one asylum seeker, whose name is unknown, said directly to the Aceh governor.

However, Aceh authorities have remained firm in their view that the asylum seekers must leave Aceh and continue their journey.

“We have treated them well. We have provided them with food and fuel. We have also repaired the boat,” Zaini added.

The governor said that what the Aceh authorities had done was more than enough, and the Sri Lankans could not stay any longer in the province.

Zaini said the Sri Lankan asylum seekers should not be compared to the Rohingya refugees who had sought refuge in Aceh after fleeing Myanmar because of communal and racial conflicts there.

Last year, the Aceh provincial administration welcomed almost 1,000 Rohingya refugees and put them up in several refugee centers in Aceh. Members of the Muslim minority group also reached Aceh by boat.

“If we look at the Sri Lankan people, they are asylum seekers who have left their country simply because of economic reasons. The Rohingya have left their country because of conflict. That is why our treatment of them is different,” Zaini added.

On Thursday, the Sri Lankan asylum seekers, who have been stranded in Aceh Besar since June 11, protested the decision of the Aceh security officials to not allow them to disembark.

Several women jumped off the boat in defiance of orders from the Aceh authorities, forcing security officers to fire a warning shot.

The five women who jumped out of the boat pleaded with officers, saying that a child was ill and needed to come ashore for medical treatment.

Local authorities have refused entry to the group, who are believed to be Tamils, because they have not been able to show passports or travel documents.

The decision goes against an instruction from Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who once again demanded on Friday that the authorities in Aceh allow the asylum seekers to disembark on humanitarian grounds.

Earlier, the Geutanyoe Foundation, an Aceh-based organization providing humanitarian assistance, called for medical assistance and full protection to be given to the asylum seekers.

“We hope that the Tamil asylum seekers will be shown the same humanity and granted the protection they deserve by the people and governments of Aceh and Indonesia,” said Lilianne Fan, the foundation’s international director on Monday.

She was referring to the widely praised humanitarian aid given by the Acehnese to Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals who were previously stranded in the westernmost province of Indonesia.