A boat crammed with dozens of Rohingya migrants, including many young children, was reportedly found sailing in Thai waters yesterday, with passengers claiming that at least 10 people, who were travelling with them, had died over the past few days.
Scores of emaciated people were seated on the deck of the vessel, which was spotted several kilometres off the southern Thai island of Koh Lipe, in the Andaman Sea and carried a black flag on which the words "We are Myanmar Rohingya" were daubed in English, reported The Daily Star.
A migrant said that they had thrown at least 10 people's bodies during the journey, adding that there were 300 of them when they started off two months ago. He said that they wanted to go to Malaysia but had not reached there yet.
Another female migrant said that her children were sick and they hadn't eaten anything for a week.
Initially, there was no sign of Thai authorities, who patrol the area to locate vessels laden with migrants. However, eventually, a Thai Navy helicopter dropped food packages into the sea and was later joined by other boats.
Rights groups fear that thousands of Rohingyas have been cast adrift in the Andaman Sea on rickety boats in recent days, abandoned by smuggling gangs following a belated crackdown on the thriving people-smuggling trade in southern Thailand.
Both the United Nations refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration have called for a coordinated search and rescue effort. However, Malaysia and Indonesia have vowed to bar boats carrying migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh after at least 2,000 boatpeople were rescued earlier this week.
A Malaysian official claimed that the authorities had turned away two vessels carrying about 600 migrants.
