Malaysia intensifies search for missing Rohingya boats after deadly sinking
Malaysian authorities have launched a major search and rescue operation after a boat carrying members of Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya community sank near the Thailand–Malaysia border, leaving at least 11 people dead and dozens missing.
According to Langkawi police chief Khairul Azhar Nuruddin, hundreds of Rohingya had boarded a vessel bound for Malaysia two weeks ago before being split into two boats on Thursday. One of those boats, carrying around 70 passengers, capsized in the Andaman Sea, while the second boat with 230 people remains unaccounted for, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
Malaysian officials said 13 survivors have been rescued and seven bodies recovered, while Thai authorities reported finding four more bodies, including two young girls. Both countries are now deploying air and sea patrols across more than 255 square nautical miles (877 sq km) to locate additional survivors.
The Rohingya, a mostly Muslim minority, have faced decades of persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar and live in worsening conditions in Bangladesh’s overcrowded refugee camps, where more than 1.3 million people reside. Many risk the dangerous sea journey to Malaysia, seen as a safer refuge, despite the country’s refusal to grant refugee status and its strict immigration policies.
“People are desperate,” said Naser Khan, a refugee in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar camps. “People are dying in the fighting, dying from hunger. So some think it’s better to die at sea than to die slowly here.”
The UN Refugee Agency reports that more than 5,100 Rohingya have attempted to flee Myanmar and Bangladesh by sea since January, with nearly 600 people dead or missing this year alone. Malaysian officials say the search could continue for up to a week, with the help of aircraft from both Malaysia and Thailand.
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