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Rohingya refugee boat lands in Aceh after a month at sea
Thousands of the mostly Muslim Rohingya, heavily persecuted in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, risk their lives each year on long, expensive sea journeys -- often in poor-quality vessels -- in an attempt to reach Malaysia or Indonesia.
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This picture shows a boat that was carrying Rohingya refugees after their arrival at a beach in Krueng Raya, Aceh province on December 25, 2022.
(AFP/Chaideer Mahyudin)
A broken-down boat carrying 57 Rohingya refugees landed in Aceh's western coast on Sunday after a month at sea, police said.
Thousands of the mostly Muslim Rohingya, heavily persecuted in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, risk their lives each year on long, expensive sea journeys -- often in poor-quality vessels -- in an attempt to reach Malaysia or Indonesia.
The wooden vessel with 57 men on board arrived around 08:00 am local time (0100 GMT), local police spokesman Winardy told AFP.
"The boat had a broken engine and it was carried by the wind to a shore in Ladong Village in Aceh Besar (district)," Winardy said.
"They said they have been drifting at sea for a month."
Winardy added that police arrived at the beach after being informed by some locals that the boat had docked there.
He said four of the men on board were sick and had been transported to a hospital.
Telmaizul Syatri, the head of the local immigration office, said the refugees will be temporarily housed at a local government facility.
"We will coordinate with the International Organisation for Migration and the UNHCR so that it can be handled well," Syatri said.
This is the third Rohingya refugee boat to arrive in Muslim-majority Indonesia in recent months.
Two boats carrying a total of 229 Rohingya landed in Aceh on November 15 and 16, according to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR).
Sunday's arrival comes after the UNHCR and Southeast Asian politicians called for the rescue of another vessel carrying as many as 200 Rohingya refugees, including women and children, which has been stranded at sea for several weeks.
That boat has been reported in waters close to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and India in the Andaman Sea and the Malacca Strait, one of the world's busiest shipping routes.
The UNHCR said last week that it has been in the water since late November, and it had received reports of at least a dozen people dying on board. Those left on the boat have no access to food or water.
The UNHCR also reported Sunday that at least 180 ethnic Rohingya stranded at sea for weeks after leaving Bangladesh in November are feared dead, as their rickety boat is thought to have sunk this month.
Citing unconfirmed reports, the agency said the "unseaworthy" boat probably sank after it went missing in the sea.
"Relatives have lost contact," the UNHCR wrote on Twitter on Saturday. "Those last in touch presume all are dead."
Braving thirst, hunger and disease, refugees often end up drifting in international waters after leaving southern Bangladesh in the hope of finding food, jobs and shelter elsewhere in Asia.
The UNHCR has urged countries in the region to help mitigate the humanitarian crisis, while the refugees themselves have made appeals to the world not to forget their plight.
