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DHAKA: The Bangladesh Navy detected about 280 hungry Rohingya stranded in a narrow boat in the Bay of Bengal for weeks and took them to a controversial flood-prone island, officials said Thursday.
The ship, one of two trawlers trying to reach Malaysia, was discovered after the navy increased patrols following reports of hundreds of Rohingya adrift at sea.
Authorities say they are likely to come from the Rakhine state of Myanmar rather than camps in southeast Bangladesh where nearly a million refugees live, as they did not have identity cards issued by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.
“It is a very small boat compared to its 280 passengers. They die of hunger. The navy has given them food, water and first aid, “a navy official told AFP.
The men, women and children in the boat, located some 40 kilometers south of the island of Saint Martin, were seen squatting with their hands on their knees, he said.
“A navy ship tows (the boat) to Bhashan Char (island) where they will be quarantined,” he added.
The Rohingya will arrive in Bhashan Char on Friday and will join 28 others from the persecuted Muslim minority who were brought there on Saturday.
The newcomers, the first group of Rohingya to be dispatched to the island, were detained after disembarking from the other boat trapped in the sea.
The Rohingya are not being sent to massive camps in the southwest as authorities fear they may be infected with the coronavirus.
Bangladesh previously refused to allow the two trawlers to disembark despite calls from the UN. Three UN agencies issued a new joint appeal on Wednesday for the Rohingya to be rescued.
Authorities said they did not know if other ships were stranded at sea.
So far, no cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the sprawling camps housing the Rohingya, most of whom had fled a 2017 military offensive in Myanmar.
Last year, Bangladesh built 100,000-person facilities on Bhashan Char, a cyclone-prone muddy islet in the coastal belt, saying they needed to take pressure off the border camps.
The Rohingya community has strongly opposed the plan to move the refugees to Bhashan Char.
In mid-April, 396 hungry refugees were rescued from a trawler stranded in the Bay of Bengal for more than two months. At least 60 people died in the boat.
