Breathing space: A Rohingya boy eating on board a vessel after they were rescued from their capsized boat in waters off west Aceh. — AFP
An Indonesian search and rescue ship located a capsized wooden boat that had been carrying dozens of Rohingya Muslim refugees, and began pulling survivors who had been standing on its hull to safety.
An AP photographer aboard the rescue ship said 69 people were taken aboard local fishing boats and to a waiting Indonesian craft.
Men, women and children, weak and soaked from the night’s rain, wept as the rescue operation yesterday got underway and people were taken aboard a rubber dinghy to the rescue boat.
It was unclear how many refugees were aboard the small craft when it capsized off of Indonesia’s northernmost coast on Wednesday, with six survivors initially rescued by local fishermen estimating between 60 and 100 people.
It was unclear whether all managed to cling to the capsized craft overnight or whether some had drowned.
Indonesia’s search and rescue team only left Banda Aceh city in the evening Wednesday, many hours after the capsizing, and had difficulty locating the boat in the choppy waters off the coast.
It finally found the boat and the survivors at about midday yesterday. — AP
