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DHAKA (Reuters) – Dozens of Rohingyas believed they came from one of several boats trapped in the sea that landed on the south coast of Bangladesh on Saturday, an official said, as concerns increased over hundreds of people trapped for weeks in the trawlers due to coronavirus restrictions.
“A small boat with 43 people made it to shore today,” said the government official, who declined to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Some of those who arrived were sent to Bhasan Char, a remote island off the coast where authorities planned to house the Rohingya, the official said.
Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project monitoring group, said the group that landed on Saturday had probably come in a small boat from one of the largest ships still at sea, believed to be carrying hundreds of people.
Hundreds of Rohingyas, members of a Muslim minority in Myanmar, are trapped in at least two trawlers between Bangladesh and Malaysia, human rights groups say, as Southeast Asian governments adjust borders to prevent the new coronavirus.
Another ship, carrying hundreds of starving and emaciated Rohingyas after weeks at sea, landed in Bangladesh in mid-April. Survivors said several dozen died on board.
The United Nations has urged authorities to let the ships land, but anti-refugee sentiment is mounting in Malaysia, and governments say the borders are sealed to prevent the coronavirus.
For years, the Rohingya from Myanmar and Bangladesh have fled by boat to Thailand and Malaysia when the seas are calm between October and April. Hundreds died in 2015 after an offensive in Thailand that led smugglers to abandon their human cargo at sea.
(Ruma Paul Report; Poppy McPherson Additional Report; Poppy McPherson Copy; Frances Kerry Edition)
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