Published: 5:10pm, 20 Dec 2024Updated: 5:19pm, 20 Dec 2024
Sri Lanka’s navy rescued more than 100 people believed to be Rohingya refugees who were found adrift aboard a fishing trawler off the island nation, a navy spokesman said on Friday.
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Gayan Wickramasuriya said fishermen spotted the refugees, including 25 children and 30 women, off Sri Lanka’s northern coast on Thursday. Navy vessels then escorted the boat to a naval base on the nation’s east coast where they were given medical care, food and water.
Wickramasuriya said the navy has not yet confirmed whether the refugees are Rohingya because of communication difficulties. But it is believed the group is from Myanmar.
The rescue mirrored a similar incident in 2022 when the Sri Lankan navy picked up 100 Rohingya refugees who were also found adrift aboard a fishing boat in Sri Lankan waters.
Hundreds of thousands of the predominantly Muslim Rohingya have fled Myanmar amid widespread discrimination. Most are denied citizenship.
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About 1 million Rohingya live in Bangladesh as refugees. Most of them had fled a brutal counter-insurgency campaign in 2017 by Myanmar’s security forces, who were accused of committing mass rapes and killings.