CNN
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They spent weeks adrift in the Andaman Sea, battling hunger and dehydration after their rickety boat’s engine died.
Some desperately drank seawater. Others prayed for rain, so they were able to temporarily quench their thirst.
Some died of disease, starving and without medicine. Despite their dangerous situation, multiple calls by aid agencies to rescue the group went unanswered and the fate of nearly 200 Rohingya refugees was left to chance.
185 people, including many women and children, were rescued in Aceh, Indonesia on Monday, said Babar Barok, spokesman for Asia at the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR).
“Desperate men, women and children. Many are dehydrated and need urgent medical attention. A sigh of relief,” Baloch said. I have written on Twitter.
The rescue is a sign of hope for the group that left Bangladesh last month, with nearly one million members of the stateless Muslim minority Rohingya fleeing a brutal campaign of killing and arson to reach the world. I live in what is considered one of the largest refugee camps. Myanmar army.
A video shared by a passenger’s relatives to CNN shows dozens of people collapsing from exhaustion on a beach in the Southeast Asian country. Many are seen clinging to each other and crying in relief. There were also young children and women with clothes soaked in water and mud. Their sullen faces look pale and emaciated from weeks without food or water.
CNN cannot independently verify the video.
The boat rescue has been welcomed by rights groups and the families of the passengers, but its harrowing journey is just another example of the dire situation facing the Rohingya, one of the world’s most persecuted minority groups. For example.
The refugee voyage began on 25 November from the overcrowded refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. The situation here is dire and women are at risk of sexual assault and violence.
Among the passengers was a young mother who wanted a better future for her five-year-old daughter, and a 17-year-old boy who hoped to earn enough money to buy medicine for her ailing parents. .
The boat is believed to have been heading to Malaysia and has been adrift since late November when the engine reportedly stopped working.
At various points in the voyage the boat was spotted near India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. UNHCR said earlier pleas to intervene were “continuously ignored” by several countries in South and Southeast Asia.
Several passengers are believed dead, according to Mohammed Rezwan Khan, whose sister and niece were on the boat. CNN cannot independently confirm the death.
Details of the passenger rescue are also unknown.
According to UNHCR’s Baloch, 58 people believed to be on a boat were rescued by fishermen in Aceh on Sunday. The surviving passengers arrived on shore on Monday, he added.
Indonesian police did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.
Many of the passengers are currently receiving medical care in Aceh, but it is unclear what will happen to them in the coming days.
“Most of their condition is ill,” Muhammad Misbahl, head of the disaster management agency for Aceh’s Pidi district, told Reuters, and paramedics from three local clinics cared for them. He added that he was doing
One of the refugees, Umar Farukh, told Reuters he hoped Indonesia would “give us an opportunity to get an education”.
“I want to get more education,” he said.
According to the United Nations, more than 3,000 Rohingya have tried to cross the sea from Bangladesh since 2020, two-thirds of them women and children.
Not all survive dangerous voyages.
According to UNHCR, about 180 Rohingya refugees on another ship are believed to have died after their families lost contact with the passengers.
A second boat also began sailing in late November and began to break apart in early December, UNHCR said in a statement, citing unconfirmed reports.
According to Baloch, about 2,000 Rohingya have embarked on dangerous sea journeys in 2022 alone. Of that number, about 200 people are missing, he added.
If reports of the 180 feared deaths are confirmed, this year will be one of the deadliest for persecuted groups seeking refuge in third countries.
“I humbly appeal to the world not to let the Rohingya die,” Khan said. “Give us the basic human rights we deserve.”
