COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s navy has rescued 104 Rohingya adrift off the Indian Ocean island’s northern coast, an official said on Monday, as members of the Muslim minority continue to escape violence in Myanmar and hardship in Bangladesh refugee camps.

Many Rohingya risk their lives every year by attempting to reach Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia on rickety vessels, and their numbers have surged following deteriorating conditions in the camps and last year’s military coup in Myanmar.

The boat was first detect­ed by the Sri Lanka Navy when it was 3.5 nautical miles from shore and a search and rescue operation was launched to eventually tow the vessel to a northern harbour on Sunday night, a navy spokesperson, Captain Gayan Wickramasuriya, said.

“The people have been handed over to the police,” Wickramasuriya said. “The police will present them before a magistrate who will decide the next step.” A navy statement said it had 104 Myanmar nationals were found aboard a small trawler suspected to have originated from Myanmar and was heading to Indonesia when it ran into engine trouble in rough seas.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2022