A boat carrying about 300 Rohingya migrants from Myanmar sank off Malaysia’s northwest coast near the Thai border, leaving hundreds missing, Malaysian authorities said on Sunday.
At least seven bodies have been recovered and 13 people rescued as search and rescue operations continued into the night.
The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) said the wooden vessel went down near Langkawi Island after departing from Myanmar’s Rakhine state three days earlier.
“We are combing an area of 170 square nautical miles for survivors,” said Romli Mustafa, the agency’s regional director.
Photos released by the MMEA showed exhausted survivors being treated by rescue workers, one wrapped in a blanket and another carried on a stretcher.
Malaysian state news agency Bernama quoted Kedah province police chief Adzli Abu Shah as saying that the passengers initially boarded a large vessel in Myanmar but were later told to transfer to three smaller boats, each carrying around 100 people, in an effort to avoid detection as they approached Malaysian waters.
The fate of the other two boats remains unknown.
Rakhine state, one of Myanmar’s poorest regions, has been the scene of decades of ethnic persecution against the Muslim Rohingya minority.
Following a brutal military crackdown in 2017, more than 1.3 million Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh, where they now live in overcrowded refugee camps facing food shortages and restrictions on movement.
With conditions worsening in both Myanmar and Bangladesh, many Rohingya have turned to dangerous sea routes in search of safety and better living conditions in Malaysia and Indonesia.
According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), more than 5,100 Rohingya have attempted such journeys between January and early November this year, with nearly 600 people reported dead or missing.
Authorities in Malaysia said the latest tragedy underscores the growing desperation of the Rohingya community and the urgent need for regional cooperation to prevent further loss of life at sea.
Search operations were continuing late Sunday for possible survivors.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
