Abdul Rehman ZF
Junior Member
Indonesian authorities have rescued 198 boat people believed to be from Myanmar found floating in a wooden boat off the coast of Aceh, a local government official said on Tuesday.
The all-male group was found in the early hours of Tuesday by local fisherman, vice head of East Aceh district, Nasrudin Abubakar, said by telephone.
"At this moment, 20 people have been hospitalised and the others are in the navy headquarters in east Aceh," Abubakar said.
On Jan. 7, a group of 193 Rohingyas, members of a stateless Muslim ethnic minority from the northwest of army-controlled Myanmar, were also found floating at sea in a wooden boat and taken to a naval base in Sabang in Aceh province.
There has been increased focus on the plight of the former Burma's estimated 800,000 Rohingya, since recent accusations against the Thai military over their treatment of hundreds who flee in rickety wooden boats every year in search of better lives.
Members of the group that landed in Indonesia in January said they had first arrived in Thailand where they alleged they were beaten and later cast adrift.
The Thai army has admitted to towing hundreds far out to sea before cutting them adrift, but has insisted they had adequate food and water and denied persistent reports the boats' engines were sabotaged.
Of 1,000 Rohingya given such treatment since early December, 550 are feared to have drowned.
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The all-male group was found in the early hours of Tuesday by local fisherman, vice head of East Aceh district, Nasrudin Abubakar, said by telephone.
"At this moment, 20 people have been hospitalised and the others are in the navy headquarters in east Aceh," Abubakar said.
On Jan. 7, a group of 193 Rohingyas, members of a stateless Muslim ethnic minority from the northwest of army-controlled Myanmar, were also found floating at sea in a wooden boat and taken to a naval base in Sabang in Aceh province.
There has been increased focus on the plight of the former Burma's estimated 800,000 Rohingya, since recent accusations against the Thai military over their treatment of hundreds who flee in rickety wooden boats every year in search of better lives.
Members of the group that landed in Indonesia in January said they had first arrived in Thailand where they alleged they were beaten and later cast adrift.
The Thai army has admitted to towing hundreds far out to sea before cutting them adrift, but has insisted they had adequate food and water and denied persistent reports the boats' engines were sabotaged.
Of 1,000 Rohingya given such treatment since early December, 550 are feared to have drowned.
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