More than 600 migrants from
Bangladesh and Myanmar stranded at sea have landed in Indonesia's Aceh
province, after being rescued by local fishing boats.
Thousands of
migrants, mainly from the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar, are
thought to be at sea after being abandoned by people smugglers.
About 2,000 of them came ashore in Aceh earlier this week and are being given medical assistance and food.
Since then, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have been turning boats away.
Officials
said 210 of those that landed in Aceh on Friday were from Myanmar and
395 from Bangladesh. Medical officials told BBC Indonesian service that
eight on board were critically ill.
"According to initial information we got from them, they were pushed
away by the Malaysian navy to the border of Indonesian waters," Sunarya,
police chief in the city of Langsa where the migrants arrived, told AFP
news agency.
He said their boat started sinking after reaching
Indonesian territory but local fishermen ferried them to shore, adding
they arrived at 5:00 am (22:00 GMT Thursday).
On Friday, a boat
carrying about 300 Rohingya Muslims that was stranded off the southern
coast of Thailand for a week was sent out of Thai waters.
The
BBC's Jonathan Head, who went to the boat near Koh Lipe on Thursday,
says those on board had contacted their families to say armed uniformed
men had boarded overnight. They repaired the broken engine, gave them
food and moved the boat south.
Thai officials said the migrants did not want to go to shore but wanted to continue to Malaysia.
The heavily packed boat was abandoned by people smugglers who also
disabled the engine. The migrants, including women and babies, had told
our correspondent they had no food or water and that 10 people had died.
Our correspondent said it was a "desperate sight" as people on board cried out for food and water.
'Not a push back'
"We fixed the engine and the boat left last night after 03:00," provincial governor Dejrat Limsiri told AFP news agency.
"We
gave them ready-to-eat meals. They are now out of Thailand territory...
They will try to go to Indonesia as it seems they cannot get to
Malaysia," he said.
Lt Comm Veerapong Nakprasit of the Thai navy
said those on board "did not want to come to Thailand so we gave them
food, medicine, fuel and water".
"We did our humanitarian duty.
They wanted to go to a third country," he told Reuters. "This is not a
push back because these people wanted to go."
Our correspondent said the officials taught those on board to operate the vessel before sending them on their way.
'Desperate sight'
Rohingya
Muslims have been leaving Myanmar, also known as Burma, because they
are not recognised as citizens of the country and face persecution.
Earlier this week thousands of migrants started landing on the shores
of Malaysia and Indonesia after being abandoned by people smugglers
afraid of a crackdown by authorities in Thailand, the usual route used
by the migrants.
It is unclear how many boats full of people are
adrift at sea, but rights group say thousands of migrants are likely
stranded and are not being allowed to land.
Some of those who are adrift in the Andaman Sea have been provided with food, water and medicine by the Thai navy.
Who are the Rohingyas?
Rohingyas are a distinct, Muslim ethnic group mainly living in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma
Thought to be descended from Muslim traders who settled there more than 1,000 years ago
Also live in Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan
In Myanmar, they are regularly persecuted - subjected to forced labour, have no land rights, and are heavily restricted
In Bangladesh many are also desperately poor, with no documents or job prospects
The
UN refugee agency has called for countries in the region to co-ordinate
a search and rescue operation for some 8,000 migrants it says are
trapped on boats in the area.
Some in Washington asked the US government to consider providing
humanitarian assistance, and exert pressure on allies in the region to
accept more refugees.
"These men, women, children and infants are
refugees fleeing well-founded fear of persecution and their deaths may
well constitute a mass atrocity in the heart of Asean,'' said Democratic
Rep Joe Crowley, referring to the regional block in Southeast Asia that
Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Burma are all a part of.
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