At least 12 Rohingya refugees have died aboard a boat which has been stranded for nearly three weeks in the Indian ocean, according to the vessel’s captain.
Unless nearby countries intervene it is feared many more will die over Christmas.
The open wooden boat set off from Bangladesh for Malaysia in late November with more than 150 Rohingya asylum seekers onboard. Its engine failed on December 4 and it has been drifting at sea, with diminishing supplies of food or water, ever since.
The UN and humanitarian groups are calling for an urgent rescue operation but so far naval authorities in the region have done nothing.
“I last spoke with the boat’s captain on December 18 and he told me that at least 12 people on board had died due to a lack of food and water”, said Sham Shur Alom, a Rohingya refugee in Malaysia whose wife and two-year-old daughter are on board. “They have only been able to drink water when it rains”.
Many on the boat were travelling to meet family in Malaysia, fleeing the sprawling refugee camps of Cox’s Bazar, in Bangladesh, where hundreds of thousands of people have languished since fleeing an ethnic cleansing campaign by Myanmar’s military in 2017.
Mr Alom’s wife, Samira, and his daughter, Ayesha, boarded in the hope of joining him in Kuala Lumpur where he now lives and works as a tiler. But he now fears for their lives.
The boat’s captain told him it was not possible to speak with them when he got through on the vessel’s satellite phone on Sunday.
“Please tell me, I just want to know if my family is alive or dead. We all want to see our families, that is all we request from the world. Just help us,” he said.
Sickness, hunger and dehydration
At sea now for nearly four weeks after leaving Bangladesh on November 26, conditions aboard the packed boat are desperate. The vessel, open to the elements, is adrift near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the northeastern Indian Ocean and many aboard are thought to be dead or dying.
“Several reports indicate dozens of people have already died during this ordeal, while survivors are hungry and thirsty without access to food and water and suffering from sickness,” said the United Nations’ refugee agency (UNHCR) last Friday, appealing for nearby nations to launch a rescue.
Yesterday, Babar Baloch, a UNHCR spokesman, said Indian and Sri Lankan marine rescue centres had been alerted and urged to take immediate action to save lives.
We remain “extremely worried about the dire situation on this boat”, he added.
Contacted by the Telegraph, the Indian Navy and coastguard said they had no information about the adrift ship – despite the widespread media coverage the crisis has received.
“We have no information about the issue,” said a spokesperson for the Indian Navy.
The UN believes some 2,000 Rohingya refugees have taken the risky sea journey this year alone, compared to 287 in 2021, amid a deterioration in conditions in refugee camps in both Bangladesh and Myanmar.
On Sunday, Sri Lanka’s Navy rescued a boat of 104 Rohingya, but other nations appear reluctant to encourage the mass flow of people by intervening and offering support.
‘Many more will die soon’
Families of those on board the stranded vessel in the Indian Ocean have been left anxious and helpless.
A chilling voice message on November 25 – a final urgent appeal for survival – was the last time Ata Ullha, a Rohingya father living in Cox’s Bazar refugee camp, heard from his teenage son, Mosharrof.
“Father, please send a boat or I will jump into the ocean. I can’t tolerate the pain and struggle anymore. There is no food or water to drink. People are drinking salt water. People are close to dying and mental breakdown. They’re going to bite each other,” he said.
“Baba, I don’t know why I am here. My teeth are dry from the lack of drinking water. Please do whatever is humanly possible for you. I will not repeat this kind of mistake.”
Mohammed Rezuwan Khan, a refugee in Cox’s Bazar, said his sister Hatemonnesa and five year old niece were on the boat.
Like many women in the camps, Hatemonnesa, a widow since 2016, had felt at risk of sexual assault and violence and wanted to escape the misery of the overcrowded settlement, which has been afflicted with fires, floods and gang warfare.
“The children face many difficulties. They don’t have enough to eat and can’t go to school. They live a subhuman existence,” said Mr Khan. “She saw no future in this camp for her daughter so she decided to leave and make a better life.”
Mr Khan last heard from the boat on December 18, when he was told conditions were “dire” as the vessel struggled in high waves, putting it at risk of capsizing.
“Many more will die soon if they are not rescued, due to dehydration,” he said. “We have approached the Indian coast guard and the Thai and Indonesian governments. None of them responded.”
“We have raised our voice and appealed to the international community to rescue them. If they are taken to jail for crossing a border it doesn’t matter. First, we appeal to rescue them from the water and save their lives.”
Mr Khan said relatives in the camps were extremely upset. “We can’t do anything apart from crying and praying.”
