Bangladesh : Rohingya refugees stranded for three weeks at sea without food and water have issued desperate calls for rescue.
The boat carrying 160 people, including women and children, is adrift in the Andaman Sea in South-east Asia after its engine malfunctioned days after they began the dangerous journey from Bangladesh.
Some have already died of hunger and dehydration, passengers told their families.
Mohammed Rezuwan Khan, 28, who lives in Bangladesh, told “My sister Hatemonesa and her five-year old daughter Umme Salima are in the boat. They have nothing to eat. There is not even water to drink. People are dying.
“Her elder daughter, who is seven, is with my mother here in Bangladesh. She wanted a better future for her kids and got on board the boat, which was suicidal.
“Their life is in danger now. We are very worried. Three people, including children, have already died on the boat. Nobody will survive if we don’t disembark them urgently.”
The small boat, which has no safety equipment on board, is believed to have left Cox’s Bazaar in Bangladesh for Malaysia on November 26. The boat has drifted hundreds of kilometres into the Indian Ocean after engine failure.
The latest report surfaced a day after 106 Rohingya refugees were rescued off the Sri Lankan coast on Sunday. The boat in which they were travelling was reportedly heading from Myanmar to Indonesia.
