Arakan News Agency
Authorities in Malaysia and Thailand have announced that the death toll from a boat carrying Rohingya migrants that capsized has risen to 27, after new bodies were found and an additional survivor was rescued, while several people remain missing.
The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency stated in a report that rescue teams recovered eight more bodies on Tuesday and found a new survivor off Langkawi Island near the Thai border. This brings the total number recovered in Malaysia to 20 individuals, including 7 men, 9 women, and 4 children, along with 14 survivors.
In Thailand, authorities in Satun province reported finding the body of a man believed to be a Rohingya refugee, following the recovery of six bodies in the previous two days from Thai waters by the Romsai Rescue Foundation.
Malaysian authorities indicated that the sunken boat was carrying about 70 people, according to survivors’ statements. They added that a group of approximately 300 refugees had set sail from the town of Buthidaung in Rakhine state, western Myanmar, before being divided among three small boats as they approached Malaysian shores. It is believed that one of these boats sank near Tarutao Island in southern Thailand last Thursday, while the fate of the other two boats remains unknown.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration have expressed deep sorrow over the sinking of a boat carrying around 70 people, mostly Rohingya, off the coasts of Malaysia and Thailand, resulting in at least 21 deaths. Thirteen others were rescued, while the fate of the remaining passengers remains unknown.
Earlier, Malaysian authorities announced finding 21 bodies so far following the sinking of the Rohingya boat in waters near the Malaysia-Thailand border, with 12 bodies found in Malaysia and 9 in Thailand since the boat sank last Thursday.
This incident reflects the dire situation faced by the Rohingya, who risk death on perilous sea journeys, amidst many similar incidents. In May, around 427 Rohingya drowned in two tragic accidents off the coast of Myanmar, described by the UN agency as the most deadly.
Additionally, a boat carrying Rohingya refugees sank off the coast of Teknaf in March, with 50 people on board. Bangladeshi border guards and fishermen managed to rescue 25 of them. Seventy-three Rohingya refugees drowned in the Bay of Bengal as their boat headed to Thailand, and dozens drowned last November after their boat capsized off western Myanmar.
