LANGKAWI, Malaysia – A ship carrying hundreds of Rohingya Muslims sent out a distress call asking to be rescued Tuesday, saying they were abandoned by their captain without fuel and have been without food or water for three days.
Chris Lewa, director of the non-profit Arakan Project, says she spoke by phone with one of the migrants on board the Thai vessel.
“They asked to be urgently rescued,” she said, adding there were an estimated 350 people on board, 50 of them women.
“They are not exactly sure where they are, possibly near Langkawi,” she said, referring to the Malaysian resort island that has been the dropoff point in recent days for more than 1,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshis.
“They say they can see the shore from where they are. They say they have had no food and water.”
Some 1.3 million Rohingya live in Myanmar, but they are denied citizenship by the government. They have been labeled by the United Nations one of the world’s most persecuted religious minorities.
READ MORE: 1,600 Rohingya, Bangladeshi migrants reach land; Indonesia sends 1 other boat to Malaysia
Tens of thousands risk perilous journeys at sea every year in search of a better life.
Most are trying to reach Malaysia, but recent regional crackdowns on human trafficking networks have sent brokers and agents into hiding, stranding migrants at sea.
Lewa – an advocate for Rohingya who is considered to be one of the most authoritative voices on boat departures and arrivals – believes up to 6,000 migrants are still on small and large boats in the Malacca Strait and nearby international waters.
She said the boat calling for a rescue Tuesday was up until recently was operated by Soe Naing, widely known as Anwar, who arrested by Thai police earlier this month for his alleged role in a brutal trafficking network in southern Thailand.
The majority of those on board were from Myanmar’s troubled state of Rakhine, home to almost all of the country’s 1.3 million Rohingya, she said.
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