The United Nations Refugee Agency has called for the immediate rescue of a group of Rohingya refugees who are floating in the Andaman Sea without food or water in their boat, many of them sick and suffering from extreme dehydration.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it did not know the exact location of the ship and understood that some passengers had died. The boat had left southern Bangladesh about 10 days ago and suffered engine failure, he said.
“Immediate action is needed to save lives and prevent further tragedy,” UNHCR said in a statement, offering to support governments by providing humanitarian assistance to those rescued.
A senior Indian coast guard has confirmed to Reuters that the boat has been tracked to an area off the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Map of Andoman and Nicobar Islands.
Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, a group that monitors the Rohingya crisis, said at least eight people had died on the boat.
Lewa said that nearby Indian naval vessels provided food and water. “But we still don’t know what they will do next,” he added.
A spokesman for the Indian Navy did not provide details on the situation, but said a statement would be issued later.
According to UNHCR, the boat left the coastal district of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, where about one million Rohingya live in dire conditions in sprawling refugee camps.
Meanwhile, in Malaysia, a court has temporarily halted the deportation of 1,200 Myanmar citizens who were about to be sent home on Myanmar army boats. The migrants included members of vulnerable minorities and had been sent to a military base on the west coast of Malaysia to be loaded on three boats for the journey home.
The United States and the UN criticized the plan, calling for the UN refugee agency to have access to the detainees to assess whether there are asylum seekers.
The UN says it knows that at least six are registered with them and are in need of international protection.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled to Bangladesh in 2017 after a deadly crackdown by security forces in Myanmar.
Bangladesh authorities said on Monday they were unaware of any boats leaving the camps. “Had we had such information, we would have stopped it,” said Rafiqul Islam, an additional police commissioner in Cox’s Bazar.
Amnesty International said in a statement that too many lives have already been lost due to countries that refused to help Rohingya people at sea.
“Another repetition of those disgraceful incidents should be avoided here,” said Saad Hammadi, Amnesty South Asia campaigner.
“After years of uncertainty in Bangladesh and the recent coup in Myanmar, the Rohingya people feel they have no choice but to undertake these dangerous journeys.”