Ninety-six Rohingya refugees, including seven children, are stranded on the island of Sumatra after making their narrow escape on a rickety boat.
Six people have died as nearly 100 Rohingya landed by boat in Indonesia’s Aceh province in the latest wave of arrivals from Myanmar in recent days.
Miftach Tjut Adek, head of a local fishing community, said 96 people, including seven children, remained at a beach in Aceh’s east on Sumatra island. There is no solution yet. They are still on the beach,” Miftach said.
Two bodies were found washed up on the shore, and four were floating in the sea, said Saiful Anwar, a village official in East Aceh.
“According to information from residents, these people were stranded at around 4 am [21:00 GMT],” Saiful told the AFP news agency.
East Aceh acting district head Amrullah M Ridha told reporters the refugees would be kept in tents on the beach until the authorities found shelter.
Close to 300 Rohingya landed last week in the provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra. The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR has called on Indonesia’s government to ensure their safety.
An estimated 2,500 Rohingya landed by boat in Aceh between January 2023 and March 2024; as many as had arrived in Indonesia during the previous eight years, according to the UN agency.
Hundreds of thousands of members from the persecuted Muslim ethnic group have escaped into refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh due to crackdowns by the military.
