BANDA ACEH: Officials said that a boat carrying around 200 Rohingya refugees including women and children, landed on Indonesia’s western coast on Sunday.
Indonesian authorities said that it is the fifth boat of Rohingya refugees to arrive in Indonesia since November. Thousands of Muslim Rohingya, severely persecuted in Myanmar, jeopardy their lives every year on long sea journeys — frequently in poor-quality boats — in an effort to reach Indonesia or Malaysia.
Wooden boat arrives Indonesia: Officials
Local police head Irwan Fahmi Ramli said on Sunday that a wooden boat carrying 75 women, 40 children and 69 men landed at around 02:30 p.m. local time on a beach in the western province of Aceh, Indonesia. He said that most of them are in good condition but there is one pregnant lady among women while four persons are sick.
He said that they had coordinated with medical teams to conduct an initial health check of these Rohingya refugees. He maintained that the refugees will be shifted a local government hospital. The refugees said that they feel very happy to land here as their boat engine is damaged and they don’t have any food in the boat.
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As many as one million Rohingya refugees were estimated to be living in camps in Bangladesh following they fled persecution in Myanmar in 2017. UN refugee agency UNHCR said that over 2,000 Rohingya are believed to have tried the dangerous journey in last year. The UN agency estimated around 200 Rohingya refugees have died after trying hazardous sea crossings in 2022.
