6,000 Rohingyas stranded in boats abandoned by smugglers
Bangladeshi Navy divers during are pictured during training exercises in the Bay of Bengal (Photo: AFP)
Dhaka: A joint patrol team of Bangladesh coast guards and navy detained a trawler in the Bay of Bengal on Tuesday after it was cast adrift with 116 Malaysia-bound illegal migrants on board, a coast guard commander said.
“There were 116 illegal migrants in the fishing trawler. They are all Bangladeshis,” coast guard station commander Dickson Chowdhury said. Mr Chowdhury said the trawler was cast adrift near Bangladesh’s southern-most island of St Martin’s, which is close to the border with Burma, after its crew abandoned it for another ship.
“It looks like a fishing trawler from Burma and that its crew were also from Burma,” he said, adding the crew may have abandoned the vessel after it was chased by Bangladeshi patrol boats.
Meanwhile, an estimated 6,000 Bangladeshis and Rohingya Muslims from Burma remain trapped in crowded, wooden boats, migrant officials and activists said. With food and clean water running low, some could be in grave danger. One vessel that reached Indonesian waters early on Monday, was stopped by the Navy and given food, water and directions to Malaysia.
( Source : agencies )
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