Yahoo – AFP,
10 May 2015
Migrants
from Myanmar and Bangladesh pictured at a shelter in Matang Raya
village in
northern Aceh, Indonesia on May 10, 2015 (AFP Photo/Reza Juanda)
|
Jakarta
(AFP) - Rescuers on Sunday brought ashore 469 migrants from Myanmar and
Bangladesh after their wooden boat arrived off Aceh in northwest Indonesia, an
official said.
"We
received a report from fishermen this morning that there were boat people
stranded in the waters off north Aceh," Aceh provincial search and rescue
chief Budiawan told AFP.
"We
despatched teams there and evacuated 469 migrants who are Rohingya from Myanmar
and Bangladeshis. There are women and children among them. So far, all of them
are safe," he added.
He said the
group would be taken to a detention centre in north Aceh district, where police
and immigration officials would carry out "further processing" which
would include investigating their motives.
Darsa, a
disaster management agency official who like many Indonesians goes by one name,
told AFP the group had arrived near a beach in north Aceh district early Sunday
and were told to swim to shore.
"One
of the migrants who could speak Malay told me that their agent had told them
they were in Malaysia, and to swim to shore," he said.
"Some
of them did. But later they found out from fishermen that they were in
Indonesia," he added.
According to
the migrant, five boats had departed from Myanmar last week to escape the
conflict in their country, Darsa said.
"He
said the Muslims were beaten and had hot water poured on them and they just
wanted to get out of Myanmar as soon as possible, to anywhere where they could
seek refuge," he said.
Buddhist-majority
Myanmar views its population of roughly 800,000 Rohingya as illegal Bangladeshi
immigrants, and they have been targeted in outbreaks of sectarian violence
there in recent years, prompting many to flee.
Darsa said there were 83 women and 41 children on board. One of the women was pregnant and some of the children were aged under 10.
Migrant
women and children from Myanmar and Bangladesh wait at a shelter
in Matang Raya
village in northern Aceh, Indonesia, on May 10, 2015 (AFP
Photo/Reza Juanda)
|
Darsa said there were 83 women and 41 children on board. One of the women was pregnant and some of the children were aged under 10.
"There
was little food and water on the boat. Some of them were not doing too well and
needed medical attention," he said.
Thousands
of Muslim Rohingya have braved the dangerous sea crossing from Myanmar to
southern Thailand and beyond in recent years.
Many hope
to go on to mainly Muslim Malaysia but the migrants have often fallen prey to
people-traffickers in Thailand.
The UN
considers the Rohingya to be one of the world's most persecuted minorities.
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