Dozens of Rohingya refugees feared drowned off Malaysia coast

At least 24 missing and one person believed to have survived after he swam to shore on the resort island of Langkawi.

Boat - Rohingya
Malaysia has tightened borders since the start of the coronavirus pandemic - and has detained Rohingya arriving in the country by boat [File: Royal Malaysian Navy via AP Photo]

A Rohingya refugee is feared to be the only survivor from a boat carrying at least two dozen asylum seekers that is believed to have run into difficulty off the northwest coast of Malaysia, a coastguard official said on Sunday.

Mohamad Zawawi Abdullah, coastguard chief for the northern states of Kedah and Perlis, said the 27-year-old named Nor Hossain had been detained by police after he swam ashore on the resort island of Langkawi.

“Based on the information from the police, the illegal Rohingya migrant had jumped off the boat that had 24 other people and that he was the only one who managed to swim to the shore safely,” Zawawi said.

A search and rescue operation had been launched, but another official told AFP news agency that no bodies or survivors had been found. It was not clear what happened to the boat.

Muslim-majority Malaysia is a common destination for Rohingya, who face persecution in their mostly Buddhist homeland of Myanmar.

But the Malaysian authorities have in recent months been trying to stop them entering over coronavirus fears.

Many of the 700,000-plus Rohingya who fled a military crackdown in Myanmar three years ago have attempted to leave overcrowded refugee camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district on boats headed for Malaysia and neighbouring Indonesia.

Zawawi said two coastguard aircraft and two boats have been deployed to search the suspected area..

Source: News Agencies