The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has called for the immediate rescue of a group of Rohingya refugees aboard their boat in the Andaman Sea without food or water, many of them sick and suffering from extreme dehydration.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said he did not know the exact location of the ship and understood that some passengers had died. The boat left southern Bangladesh about 10 days ago and suffered an engine failure, he said.
“Immediate action is needed to save lives and prevent further tragedy,” the UNHCR said in a statement, offering support to governments providing humanitarian aid to those rescued.
A senior Indian Coast Guard official confirmed to Reuters that the boat was being pursued in an area off the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Map of the Andoman and Nicobar Islands.
At least eight people had died on the boat, according to Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, a group monitoring the Rohingya crisis.
Lewa said nearby Indian Navy ships provided food and water. “But we still don’t know what they will do after that,” he added.
A spokesman for the Indian Navy did not provide details about the situation, but said a statement would be issued later.
According to the UNHCR, the boat left the coastal district of Bangladesh, Cox’s Bazar, where about one million Rohingya live in terrible conditions in large refugee camps.
Meanwhile, in Malaysia, a court temporarily suspended the deportation of 1,200 Myanmar nationals who were to be returned home on boats provided by the Myanmar army. The migrants included members of vulnerable minorities and were 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 have criticized the plan and called for the UN refugee agency to have access to detainees to assess whether there are asylum seekers.
The UN says it knows that at least six are registered with them and need international protection.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled to Bangladesh in 2017 after a deadly crackdown by security forces in Myanmar.
Authorities in Bangladesh said on Monday they were unaware of any boats leaving the camps. “If we had such information, we would have stopped it,” said Rafiqul Islam, an additional police superintendent at Cox’s Bazaar.
Amnesty International said in a statement that too many lives had already been lost in countries refusing to assist Rohingya at sea.
“Another recurrence of these shameful incidents must be avoided here,” said South Asian Amnesty activist Saad Hammadi.
“After years of talking in Bangladesh and the recent coup in Myanmar, Rohingya people feel they have no choice but to embark on these dangerous journeys.”