Myanmar Muslims Abandoned at Sea
Myanmar Muslim refugees remain trapped at sea after being refused entry to several Southeast Asian countries.
At least ten people have died on the fishing boat which has been stranded in the Andaman Sea for the last week with up to 350 Rohingya Muslims on board.
The region finds itself in a spiraling humanitarian crisis as members of Myanmar's 1.3 million Rohingya Muslims attempt to flee persecution in the Buddhist-majority country.
According to reports, more than 120,000 members of the Muslim minority have boarded ships to other countries in a bid to escape.
Smugglers however have now started to abandon ships, leaving migrants to fend themselves, in the face of a crackdown by the security forces of other countries.
According to Associated Press, while Thailand kept a large vessel carrying hundreds of hungry people at bay, a further two boats crammed with Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshis were also left with nowhere to go after being turned away from Malaysia.
Meanwhile, Indonesian authorities said more than 700 Rohingya Muslim migrants have been rescued by fishing boats off the coast of Indonesia.
At least 712 Rohingya Muslim migrants from Myanmar landed in the Indonesian city of Langsa on Friday after being dumped by human traffickers.
Indonesian sources said they were rescued by fishing vessels when their boat sank off the coast of Aceh Province.
Samsul Bahri, an immigration official, said the migrants were evacuated from the harbor area. "We are evacuating them from the harbor at the moment.”
