LAWEUENG: Rohingya refugees received emergency medical treatment after a boat carrying nearly 200 people came ashore in Indonesia on Monday (Dec 26), authorities said, in the fourth such landing in the country in recent months.
Each year thousands of the mostly Muslim Rohingya, heavily persecuted in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, risk their lives on long, expensive sea journeys – often in poor-quality vessels – in an attempt to reach Malaysia or Indonesia.
The wooden vessel arrived at around 5.30pm on a beach in Indonesia’s westernmost province of Aceh, said local police spokesman Winardy.
“One hundred and eighty-five Rohingya immigrants landed in Pidie (district). The figure consists of 83 adult males, 70 adult females and 32 children,” Winardy, who goes by one name, said in a statement.
The refugees were temporarily sheltered at a local facility, with health workers treating those who were sick, Winardy added.
Some appeared very weak and thin and were put on drips by medical staff, according to AFP journalists.
A health worker told AFP some were “suffering from severe dehydration. Some children were vomiting”.
Details on the length and conditions of their journey were not immediately available, but one young arrival said they had set off from Bangladesh.
“We came from a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh in a hope that Indonesia will give us the opportunity of education,” 14-year-old Umar Faruq said.
