By REZA SAIFULLAH and EDNA TARIGAN (Associated Press)
MEULABOH, Indonesia (AP) — On Thursday, an Indonesian search and rescue ship found a capsized wooden boat carrying many Rohingya Muslim refugees, and began rescuing the survivors standing on its hull.
A photographer from AP aboard the rescue ship reported that 10 people were taken onto local fishing boats and another 59 were being rescued by the Indonesian craft.
Men, women, and children, weak and soaked from the night’s rain, cried as the rescue operation began and people were taken onto a rubber dinghy to the rescue boat.
There were conflicting reports on whether anyone had died in the accident, with survivors saying many who had been on the boat when it left Bangladesh were still missing, but authorities claimed all had been rescued.
“We have examined all 69 Rohingya that we rescued and from our examination, there was no information from them about any deaths,” Fathur, a rescue officer who provided only one name, told reporters. “We managed to evacuate all 69 people and no one stated that anyone had died.”
In addition to the six Rohingya rescued by private fishing boats at the scene before authorities launched the official mission, a total of 75 people from the boat were saved.
However, Samira, a 17-year-old refugee from the Kutupalong camp in Bangladesh traveling to Malaysia, said there were 146 people onboard, suggesting that 71 could still be missing at sea.
She mentioned that the boat started having problems three days ago and then overturned on Wednesday. She also said her nephew was among those still missing.
“We are all very sad,” she said. “We are very hungry and weak.”
When fishing vessels arrived at the scene on Wednesday, desperate refugees crowded onto one of the boats, causing it to tip over. It wasn't immediately clear what happened to the crew on board.
After being alerted about the refugees needing help by the fishermen on Wednesday morning, an official search and rescue team set off from Banda Aceh city on Wednesday evening. They didn’t reach the area of the accident until early in the morning and couldn't initially find the capsized boat.
When they came across it midday Thursday, they found the refugees on its hull, desperate for help.
They saved 42 men, 18 women, and nine children and took some to a temporary shelter in the Aceh Besar district and others to a local hospital for treatment.
Amiruddin, a tribal fishing community leader in Aceh Barat district, said those rescued indicated that the boat was sailing east when it started leaking and then strong currents pushed it toward the west of Aceh.
About 740,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh earlier to escape a harsh counterinsurgency campaign by security forces in their home country of Myanmar.
Thousands have been attempting to leave overcrowded camps in Bangladesh for neighboring countries, with Indonesia experiencing a rise in refugee numbers since November, leading it to request help from the international community. Rohingya arriving in Aceh face some hostility from some fellow Muslims.
Indonesia, as well as Thailand and Malaysia, has not signed the United Nations’ 1951 Refugee Convention which defines their legal protections, so they are not required to accept refugees. However, they have offered temporary shelter to refugees in need so far.
In the past year, almost 4,500 Rohingya — with two-thirds of them being women and children — escaped from Myanmar and the refugee camps in Bangladesh to by boat, as reported by the United Nations refugee agency. Out of those, 569 died or went missing while crossing the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, the highest number of deaths since 2014.
It is nearly impossible for the Rohingya to return safely to Myanmar because the military that attacked them seized power from Myanmar’s democratically elected government in 2021. No country has offered them any significant opportunities for resettlement.
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Tarigan reported from Jakarta. AP journalist David Rising contributed to this story from Bangkok.
