At least 32 ethnic Rohingya died on a ship that drifted for weeks after it failed to reach Malaysia, Bangladesh coast guard officials said on Thursday, following the rescue of 396 starving survivors.
A human rights group said it believed more boats carrying Rohingya – a Muslim minority – were adrift at sea, with coronavirus lockdowns in Malaysia and Thailand making it harder for them to find refuge.
“They were at sea for about two months and were starving,” a Bangladesh coastguard official told Reuters in a message, adding that the ship was brought to shore late on Wednesday.
The 396 survivors would be handed to the U.N refugee agency, said the official, who had initially said they would be sent to Myanmar. The official also revised the death toll to 32 from 24.
Video images showed a crowd comprised mostly of women and children, some stick-thin and unable to stand, being helped to shore. One emaciated man lay on the sand.
One refugee told a reporter the group had been turned back from Malaysia twice and a fight had broken out onboard between passengers and crew at one point.
Malaysian officials did not respond to requests for comment on reports that it had turned away previous boats from its waters.
”We understand these men, women and children were at sea for nearly two months in harrowing conditions and that many of them are extremely malnourished and dehydrated,” the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said.
The agency was offering to help the government move them to quarantine facilities and would provide medical care, it said in a statement.
Media reports that the group was infected with the virus had not been substantiated, the UNHCR said. Read more
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