Dozens of Rohingya refugees disembark in Indonesia after a month adrift

Dec. 25 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Dozens of Rohingya refugees have disembarked this Sunday on the coast of Aceh province, the westernmost part of the Indonesian archipelago after spending a month adrift and following pressure from humanitarian organizations.

The authorities have confirmed that there are 57 men who have landed on the shores of the Aceh Besar district, some of them sick. There is no record of women and children traveling on the boat.

At the moment the local government has not decided where to relocate all these people, reports the Antara agency.

These arrivals in Indonesia of members of the Rohingya community, who are fleeing not only the religious persecution they suffer in their country of origin, Burma, but also the horrible conditions in refugee camps in Bangladesh, are common.

This week, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has already called on the governments of the region to listen to the pleas of 190 people who were adrift between the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal.

According to UNHCR, these people have been at sea for a month in appalling conditions, without enough food and water, while states in the region look the other way. Various reports speak of some twenty people dying while waiting to be rescued.

However, it is unknown if this vessel is the one that has recently reached the Indonesian coast, since there would be women and children and the number of people is much higher.

UNHCR Director for Asia and the Pacific, Indrika Ratwatte, has lamented that many people, including children, have to deal with these situations. “It is devastating”, she has emphasized her. According to the figures handled by the organization, this year is “one of the deadliest years in the seas of the region.”