Malaysian maritime authorities said Sunday that a boat carrying members of Myanmar’s Rohingya community sank near the Thai-Malaysian border, leaving hundreds missing, seven dead and 13 rescued.
Rescue teams were searching 170 square nautical miles of water near Langkawi Island on Saturday after a boat carrying 300 people left Myanmar’s Rakhine state three days ago, said Romli Mustapha, head of the region’s maritime agency.
Official footage showed one survivor covered in a sheet and another on a stretcher.
Myanmar’s impoverished Rakhine state has suffered years of conflict, famine and ethnic violence, particularly targeting the Rohingya Muslim minority community. About 1.3 million Rohingya, forced from Rakhine state in a brutal military crackdown in 2017, live as refugees in crowded camps in neighboring Bangladesh.
Malaysian state media outlet Bernama quoted Azri Abu Shah, Kedah state police chief, as saying that the residents initially boarded a large boat from Myanmar, but were told to transfer to three smaller boats, each carrying about 100 people, to avoid detection as they approached Malaysia.
The status of the other two vessels is unknown, and search and rescue operations are underway.
Faced with violence in Myanmar and increasingly difficult living conditions in Bangladesh, Rohingya from both countries regularly attempt dangerous sea journeys, including to Malaysia.
More than 5,100 Rohingya left Myanmar and Bangladesh on boats between January and early November, with nearly 600 dead or missing, according to data from the United Nations refugee agency.
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