Metropolis Desk-
The UNHCR refugee agency stated on Friday that while 75 Rohingya have been rescued, more than 70 are “presumed dead or missing” after the boat they were on collapsed off the coast of Aceh province, Indonesia.
In a joint statement, the UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration stated that should the death toll be verified, it would be the highest death toll of the year thus far.
Six of the migrants were saved by a fisherman on Wednesday, which prompted the alarm. According to a fishing community in Aceh, they were standing on the boat’s hull when it overturned because of high tides.
The Rohingya have been fleeing Buddhist-majority Myanmar for years, fearing mistreatment, denial of citizenship, and popular perception as foreign invaders from South Asia.
UNHCR data revealed that over 2,300 Rohingya entered Indonesia last year, more than all of the preceding four years’ total entries.
The 2023 toll of at least 569 Rohingya dead or missing while trying to flee Myanmar or Bangladesh was the highest since 2014, the UNHCR said in January.
There were 151 people on this most recent boat, according to UNHCR Asia spokeswoman Babar Baloch, who told Reuters on Friday. Of those, about 75 had been evacuated by local authorities, with the other individuals “presumed dead or missing”.
According to Reuters, Faisal Rahman, a protection assistant for UNHCR in Aceh, the Rohingya who survived were in good health and were being housed at a Red Cross building in West Aceh.
An inquiry for comment from the Acehnese immigration office was not answered.
Source- Reuters
