<\/p>\n
As many as 59 Rohingyas were found stranded on a Thai island, claiming they were abandoned by smugglers during their journey to Malaysia, a senior police officer said Sunday.<\/p>\n
The group – among them five children – were found on Koh Dong island in the southern Satun province on Saturday, said Lt. Gen. Surachet Hakpan.<\/p>\n
Each year, thousands of the mostly Muslim minority Rohingya people, heavily persecuted in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, risk their lives in monthslong expensive journeys to reach Malaysia over Thailand's seas.<\/p>\n
Police said they had been charged with illegal entry and could face deportation to Myanmar following a court case.<\/p>\n
"We are providing humanitarian assistance and will investigate whether they are victims of human trafficking or if they entered illegally," Surachet said.<\/p>\n
The group appeared "starving and was likely to have had no food for three to five days", a police statement said.<\/p>\n
Group members told officers their boat was among three vessels carrying 178 people that had left Myanmar and Bangladesh, having paid an agent around 5,000 ringgit ($1,300) for the journey.<\/p>\n
The first two boats carrying 119 people were stopped and arrested by Malaysian authorities, according to the Thai police statement.<\/p>\n
The boat's crew then decided to abandon those onboard on Koh Dong island – telling them that they had reached Malaysia, the group told officers.<\/p>\n
The incident comes after the bodies of 14 Rohingya people, including children, were discovered washed up on a beach last month after they attempted to flee Myanmar.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people fled a military crackdown in the nation in 2017, bringing with them harrowing stories of murder, rape and arson.<\/p>\n
Those still in Myanmar are widely seen as interlopers from Bangladesh and are largely denied citizenship, many rights and access to healthcare and education.<\/p>\n
Muslim-majority Malaysia is a key destination for Rohingya fleeing persecution in Myanmar or refugee camps in Bangladesh.<\/p>\n
In 2019, a Thai boat captain was charged with smuggling 65 Rohingya people from Myanmar after their vessel was shipwrecked on an island off the coast of Satun province.<\/p>\n
The same area was the hub of a multimillion-dollar trafficking route, which unraveled in 2015 after the discovery of mass graves of Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants along the border with Malaysia.\/AFP<\/p>\n
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