Regional governments silent after U.N. calls for Asia boatpeople rescue

A Rohingya woman cries as her child is treated for malnutrition by a Malaysian medical team a day after they landed at Pantai Pasir Berdengung beach in Langkawi island, in the Malaysia's northern state of Kedah, Malaysia, May 12, 2015. REUTERS/Olivia Harris

BANGKOK/JAKARTA (Reuters) - Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia gave no response on Wednesday to a United Nations appeal for them to rescue thousands of migrants, many of them hungry and sick, adrift in boats in Southeast Asian seas.

There were conflicting statements on whether regional governments would continue to push back migrant boats in the face of the UN warning that they risked a "massive humanitarian crisis".