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DHAKA: The Bangladeshi navy has rescued some 280 Rohingya Muslims from the Bay of Bengal, towing their stranded boat to an island where they will be quarantined as a precaution against the coronavirus, Coast Guard officials said Saturday, May 9. and naval.
The rickety wooden boat was spotted early Thursday in Bangladeshi waters and taken to Bhasan Char, a low-lying island off the south coast, where the government has built homes and cyclone shelters.
“They were starving and we gave them food and water,” said a naval officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The plan is to keep them in quarantine for 14 days. Later, the government will decide.”
The navy and coast guard are on alert for other ships in Bangladesh waters, unable to find their way as the seas become more rough due to a change in season.
Reuters phone calls to government officials for comment went unanswered.
In February, Bangladesh appeared to be delaying plans to settle Rohingya refugees in Bhasan Char, having come under heavy criticism from the United Nations and aid agencies.
But the subsequent coronavirus scare appears to have persuaded Bangladeshi authorities to at least use the facilities on the island to quarantine those rescued from Rohingya ships.
Last weekend, 29 Rohingya found on another ship adrift at sea were also brought to the island, which now has electric lighting and cell phone towers.
Another ship that landed on the Bangladeshi coast in mid-April was packed with hundreds of starving and emaciated Rohingya. Survivors said several dozen died on board for weeks at sea.
More than a million Rohingyas live in sprawling refugee camps in southern Bangladesh, most of whom arrived from Myanmar in late 2017 after fleeing a military offensive that the UN said was carried out with genocidal intent. The army denies the genocide and says it was carrying out a legitimate campaign against insurgents who attacked police posts.
Any coronavirus outbreak in the camps, where people live in tight and miserable conditions, would be a nightmare for aid agencies and authorities in Bangladesh.
For years, Rohingya, wanting to escape persecution in Myanmar or poverty from camps in Bangladesh, has made the dangerous sea voyage south in hopes of reaching Thailand or Malaysia.
In 2015, hundreds of Rohingya died after an offensive in Thailand that led smugglers to abandon their human cargo at sea.
The United Nations has urged authorities to let the ships land, but Southeast Asian governments have narrowed their borders to prevent the new coronavirus. And even in mostly Muslim Malaysia, sympathy for Rohingya refugees appears to have eroded.
Among the targets of the anti-Rohingya vitriol was Zafar Ahmad Abdul Ghani, a Rohingya activist who had to deactivate his Facebook account after he was inundated with furious comments and death threats prompted by allegations that he had demanded Malaysian citizenship for Rohingya.
Last month, Malaysia rejected a boat carrying 200 Rohingya suspects and also arrested some people believed to be Rohingya for alleged trafficking in illegal immigrants.
He has not said whether he would allow more Rohingya to enter the country. – Reuters
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