Rohingya refugees stranded on Indonesia beach
Officers check a boat that with newly-arrived Rohingya at a beach in Sabang island, Aceh province, Indonesia, November 22, 2023.
Officers check a boat that with newly-arrived Rohingya at a beach in Sabang island, Aceh province, Indonesia, November 22, 2023.
More than 200 Rohingya refugees were huddled on the beaches of a remote Indonesian island Wednesday after weeks adrift on a wooden boat.
The latest arrivals were part of more than 1,000 members of the group who landed on the shores of Aceh province in western Indonesia in the last week.
Thousands of the refugees risk their lives each year making sea journeys from refugee camps in Bangladesh, often in flimsy boats, to try to reach Malaysia or Indonesia.
The latest group of 219 refugees, which included 72 men, 91 women and 56 children, arrived in Sabang city in Aceh province, located on an island off the tip of northern Sumatra, at around 11:00 pm local time (1600 GMT) on Tuesday.
(With input from AFP)