Rohingyas make the months-long boat trip to other parts of Asia. (representative)
rangoon:
Seven Rohingyas out of a group of 65 seized by Myanmar authorities from a boat off the south coast died of hunger, thirst and exposure, state media said today.
On Monday, authorities detained a ship near Pyapon Municipality, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of the Yangon commercial center, the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported.
“Four traffickers and 65 smuggled Bengalis were temporarily detained,” it said, using the term Rohingya is referred to as pejorative by many in Myanmar.
Three men and four women later died “from bad weather and lack of food and water,” it says.
Six others continued to receive medical treatment, while five men of the group were “detained so that they could be investigated and prosecuted under the law,” the newspaper added.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims fled a military crackdown in Maynmar, a Buddhist majority, in 2017, arriving in neighboring Bangladesh with harrowing stories of murder, rape and arson.
The Rohingya who remain in Myanmar are widely seen as invaders from Bangladesh and are largely denied citizenship, many rights and access to health care and education.
Every year, hundreds of dangerous, months-long boat trips make to other parts of Southeast Asia, often between November and March, when the seas are safest for the small trawlers used by traffickers.
Malaysia, a Muslim-majority country, is the destination of choice as it hosts a large number of Rohingya expatriates.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)
