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Dozens of Rohingya Muslims were found weak and hungry on a beach in Indonesia’s northernmost province of Aceh on Sunday after weeks at sea, officials said.
Local police chief Rolly Yuiza Away said the group of 58 men arrived at Indrapatra beach in Radong fishing village in Aceh’s Besar district early Sunday.
Villagers who saw the group of Rohingya in a rickety wooden boat helped them disembark and then reported their arrival to authorities, he said.
“They looked very weak from starvation and dehydration. Some of them fell ill after a long and arduous sea voyage,” Mr Away said, adding that the men were awaiting further inquiries from migrants and local officials in Aceh. Food and water were received from villagers and others when instructed.
The police chief said at least three men were rushed to clinics for treatment and others were receiving various treatments.
The United Nations and other organizations on Friday urged South Asian countries to rescue a small boat that has been drifting for weeks in the Andaman Sea, believed to be among as many as 190 Rohingya refugees.
“Reports show that people on board are now spending a month at sea in dire conditions with little food or water, while countries in the region are doing nothing to help save human lives,” UNHCR said.
“Many of them were women and children, and as many as 20 were reported to have died on board the unseaworthy ship during the journey.”
Mr Away said it was unclear where the group found on Sunday came from or whether they were among the 190 Rohingya refugees drifting in the Andaman Sea.
But one of the men, who can speak Malay, said they had been at sea for more than a month and planned to land in Malaysia, where they were looking for a better life and work.
More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from Buddhist-majority Myanmar to refugee camps in Bangladesh since August 2017, when the Myanmar military launched a cleanup operation in response to attacks by rebel groups.
Burmese security forces have been accused of mass rapes, killings and burning thousands of homes.
Hordes of Rohingya are trying to leave crowded refugee camps in Bangladesh and make the dangerous sea voyage to other Muslim-majority countries in the region.
Muslim-dominated Malaysia has been a common destination for boats, with traffickers promising refugees a better life there. But many Rohingya refugees who have landed in Malaysia face detention.
Although Indonesia is not a signatory to the U.N.’s 1951 refugee convention, the U.N. refugee agency said a 2016 presidential regulation provided a national legal framework to manage the treatment of refugees on board ships in distress near Indonesia and help disembark them.
The rules have been in place for years, most recently last month when some 219 Rohingya refugees, including 63 women and 40 children, were rescued by two rickety boats off the coast of the northern Aceh region.
Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid said: “We urge the Indonesian government to rescue the boats and allow them to disembark safely.
“We also urge the Indonesian government to lead a regional initiative to address the refugee crisis.”
On Thursday, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, urged governments in South and Southeast Asia to “immediately and urgently coordinate the search for the ship and ensure the safe disembarkation of those on board before any further loss of life would occur.” “
“While many people around the world are preparing to enjoy their holidays and usher in the new year, boats carrying desperate Rohingya men, women and children are making dangerous journeys in unseaworthy vessels,” he added.
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