Langkawi, Malaysia - Thousands of migrants believed to be stranded at sea without food and water could die unless Southeast Asian governments act urgently to rescue them, migrant groups and the UN warned Tuesday.
Underscoring the concern, a migrant organisation said a vessel was adrift somewhere near the Thai or Malaysian coast with around 350 people -- including women and children -- but no food or water, while Thailand called a regional summit on the issue.
Indonesia's navy, however, said earlier it had turned away one boat carrying hundreds of migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh, whose fate remains uncertain.
Dhaka, meanwhile, detained a trawler after it was cast adrift with 116 Malaysia-bound illegal migrants on board.
Nearly 2,000 boatpeople from the two impoverished nations -- many of them members of Myanmar's oppressed Rohingya minority -- have swum ashore, been rescued or intercepted off Malaysia and Indonesia in recent days.
Many of them were thin, weak or in poor health after weeks at sea.
The Arakan Project, a group advocating for the rights of Muslim Rohingya say as many as 8,000 other people may be adrift.
The group said it had spoken by phone with passengers aboard the vessel carrying 350 people, who said they were abandoned by their Thai human-traffickers.
"They told us they have had no food and water for the last three days. They have called for urgent rescue," said Chris Lewa, the group's founder.
AFP
