Refugee ship drifts for weeks, dozens die

DHAKA: At least 32 ethnic Rohingya died on a ship that drifted for weeks after it failed to reach Malaysia, officials of the Bangladesh coastguard said yesterday, following the rescue of 396 starving survivors.

For years, Rohingya from Myanmar have boarded boats organised by smugglers in the hope of finding refuge in Southeast Asia, usually making voyages during the dry season from November to March.

A human rights group said it believed more boats carrying Muslimminority Rohingya were adrift at sea, with coronavirus lockdowns in Malaysia and Thailand making it harder for them to find refuge.

‘‘They were at sea for about two months and were starving,’’ a Bangladesh coastguard official said, adding that the ship was brought to shore yesterday.

The 396 survivors would be handed to the UN refugee agency.

Video images showed a crowd comprised mostly of women and children, some stickthin and unable to stand, being helped to shore. One emaciated man lay on the sand.

One refugee said the group had been turned back from Malaysia twice and a fight had broken out on board between passengers and crew at one point.

‘‘We understand these men, women and children were at sea for nearly two months in harrowing conditions and that many of them are extremely malnourished and dehydrated,’’ the UN refugee agency UNHCR said.

‘‘UNHCR is offering to assist the government to move these people to quarantine facilities.’’

Media reports the group was infected with Covid19 had not been substantiated, the agency said.

More than a million Rohingya live in refugee camps in southern Bangladesh, the majority having been driven from homes in Myanmar after a 2017 military crackdown.