Rohingya Refugees Stuck on Boats in Andaman Sea, U.N. Says

The United Nations refugee company stated on Tuesday that about 400 individuals had been believed to be stranded on two boats adrift within the Andaman Sea, calling on close by governments to assist rescue them.

Most of them are believed to be members of the Rohingya ethnic group, a persecuted Muslim minority, the U.N. company stated. Greater than one million Rohingya have fled state persecution and massacre in Myanmar in recent times and now stay in desperate conditions in refugee camps in Bangladesh. Hundreds extra have made high-risk journeys throughout the Andaman Sea in rickety boats, usually headed for nations in Southeast Asia.

Babar Baloch, a spokesman in Bangkok for the company, the United Nations Excessive Commissioner for Refugees, stated the 2 boats’ exact places had been unknown and that it was not clear which nation that they had departed from, however that they appeared to have been at sea for not less than two weeks.

He stated the company knew concerning the boats primarily based on conversations with relations of individuals aboard and human rights employees who had spoken with them by phone, however that it didn’t have particulars concerning the passengers’ circumstances.

“Our concern is that meals and water, in the event that they haven’t already run out, could also be working out quickly,” Mr. Baloch stated. “Our concern is that folks can lose their lives, and we’re speaking about a whole bunch of individuals.”

The Related Press quoted the captain of one of many boats as saying over the weekend that there were 180 to 190 people aboard and that they had been out of meals and water. He stated the boat was about 200 miles from Thailand’s west coast; The A.P. stated it was about the identical distance from Aceh, an Indonesian province that could be a frequent vacation spot for boats carrying Rohingya refugees.

Miftach Minimize Adek, the chief of an official fishermen’s affiliation in Aceh, stated by phone that the native authorities had been conscious of the 2 lacking boats however that he didn’t know of any plans for a rescue. Different officers in Aceh couldn’t be reached for remark.

A spokesman for the Royal Thai Navy advised The A.P. on Monday that he had no details about the boats.

Mr. Baloch stated a whole bunch of refugees had died at sea final yr beneath related circumstances, blaming “inaction” on the a part of a number of nations within the area. That tally consists of 180 Rohingya who had been stranded for weeks in the Andaman in late 2022 and by no means discovered.

Almost 6,000 refugees — a lot of them Rohingya — have made dangerous sea journeys from Bangladesh or Myanmar since November 2022, virtually 500 of whom had been later reported useless or lacking, Mr. Baloch stated. He stated the boats had principally disembarked in Indonesia, and that not less than seven had executed so in the previous couple of weeks. (The busiest time for such journeys is often the final three months of the yr.)

Mr. Baloch stated that whereas a lot of these crossing the Andaman Sea had been formally registered as refugees in Bangladesh, others had left instantly from Myanmar. “Let’s not overlook, Myanmar is having an escalating battle,” he stated.

Huge tracts of Myanmar are at warfare, with civilians there having taken up arms to resist the army junta that deposed the civilian authorities in 2021, whereas an alliance of armed ethnic teams expands its territory. About two and a half million individuals are estimated to have been displaced inside Myanmar, greater than half one million of them since late October because the preventing has escalated, according to U.N. figures.

Hasya Nindita contributed reporting.