Bangladesh has rescued some 280 hungry Rohingyas adrift on a boat in the Bay of Bengal for several weeks and will land them on a controversial island, local authorities said on Thursday. The Bangladeshi navy had intensified its patrols following reports of two trawlers carrying hundreds of Rohingyas, a Muslim minority persecuted in Burma, wandering at sea after failing to reach Malaysia.
Read also: Bangladesh rescues 400 hungry Rohingyas after two months at sea
“ It is a very small boat compared to its 280 passengers. They are starving. The navy has given them food, water and first aid, "a navy official told AFP. The boat " is towed by a navy ship to (the island of) Bhashan Char, where they will remain in quarantine, " he added. Bangladeshi officials say they fear that passengers may carry the new coronavirus and help spread it if they are taken to the large Rohingya refugee camps in southern Bangladesh.
No case of Covid-19 has yet been reported in these huge camps where nearly a million people live in abject poverty. Bangladesh last year built facilities for 100,000 people on Bhashan Char, an island of mud in a hurricane-prone area, saying it should reduce pressure in overcrowded border camps.
Read also: Bangladesh: textile factories reopen despite confinement
But the refugee relocation plan stumbled against the fierce opposition of Rohingya refugees and was lambasted by human rights defenders and international organizations. The refugees on the boat are said to come from Rakhine State in western Burma, not from Bangladeshi refugee camps, said Dhaka.
They will join on Bhashan Char a first group of 28 Rohingyas taken there Saturday after having landed in Bangladesh on another boat. Bangladeshi authorities say they do not know if other Rohingya boats are currently at sea. As of mid-April, nearly 400 hungry Rohingya refugees had been rescued by the Bangladesh Coast Guard after having drifted two months at sea. At least 60 people had perished during the trip.
Read also: Rohingyas: in The Hague, the last fight of Aung San Suu Kyi
In the hope of a better life, thousands of Rohingyas try each year to reach countries in Southeast Asia, notably Malaysia where there is a large Rohingya diaspora, on board overcrowded and dilapidated boats.
