Indonesia rescues dozens of Rohingya refugees after boat capsizes

Dozens of Rohingya refugees stranded on the rusty hull of a capsized ship have been rescued after the dehydrated and sunburnt group had drifted at sea for more than a day.

"The total victims rescued (alive) is 69," the local search and rescue agency said in a statement.

The group included 42 men, 18 women and nine children, some of whom had been at sea for weeks on a rickety wooden boat from squalid camps in Bangladesh where many of the heavily persecuted Myanmar minority have fled.

Survivors estimated around 150 Rohingya had been on board with dozens swept away, according to local fishermen and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

"Why did the boat capsize? There was heavy rain," said a 27-year-old survivor who gave his name as Dostgior in broken Indonesian. The second boat, belonging to local fishermen, overturned when the refugees tried to climb on in a panic.

The authorities were taking them to shore in West Aceh's capital Meulaboh on Thursday after spotting them in waters off the coast, the local search and rescue agency said.

Thousands of the mostly Muslim minority risk their lives each year on long and expensive sea journeys, often on flimsy boats, to try to reach Malaysia or Indonesia.

But they often do so during Indonesia's monsoon season when conditions can drag them to land, making their journeys even more hazardous.

"I'd been at sea for 15 days, but there are others here who have been here longer than that. Some have been here for a month," said Dostgior.

"In Bangladesh, I met someone who could take me to Indonesia. My goal in going to Indonesia is to pay someone to take me to Malaysia. Once in Malaysia, I will pay someone else to enter," he told AFP.

Many Rohingya make the perilous 4,000-kilometre journey (2,500 miles) from Bangladesh to Malaysia, fuelling a multi-million dollar human-smuggling operation that often involves stopovers in Indonesia.

'Couldn't find them'

One of the survivors said dozens of refugees had been swept away by the currents and were missing or feared dead.

"He said the boat took 151 people. Once the boat capsized approximately 50 people may be missing and passed away," Rahman said.

Local police and the regional government did not respond to requests for comment.

From mid-November to late January, 1,752 refugees, mostly women and children, landed in the Indonesian provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra, according to UNHCR. Hundreds remain in shelters.