‘Pray for us’: eyewitnesses reveal first clues about a missing boat with up to 200 Rohingya refugees
- Survivor Muhammed Jubair, of another refugee boat, says the engine of the ailing vessel was broken and water was seeping in, so a rope was used to tether the two boats together
- The ailing vessel disappeared from view after a storm destroyed the engine on Jubair’s vessel and severed the ropes between the two boats
The screams were heard soon after the ailing boat emerged into view. On board were babies and children, alongside mothers and fathers begging to be saved.
The passengers were ethnic Rohingya Muslims who had fled surging gang violence and rampant hunger in the refugee camps of Bangladesh, only to find themselves adrift with a broken engine on the Andaman Sea. For a moment, it appeared their salvation had arrived in the form of another boat carrying Rohingya refugees that had pulled up alongside them.
But those on board the other boat – itself overloaded and beginning to leak – knew if they allowed the distressed passengers onto their vessel, it would sink and all would die.
They wanted to help, but they also wanted to live.
Since November, more than 1,500 Rohingya refugees fleeing Bangladesh by boat have landed in Indonesia’s northern province of Aceh – three-quarters of them women and children. On Thursday, Indonesian authorities spotted another five boats approaching Aceh’s coast.
With so many Rohingya attempting the crossing in recent weeks, nobody knows how many boats did not make it, and how many people died.