Recently, a ship carrying about a hundred Rohingya people sank in the maritime border area between Malaysia and Thailand. Authorities have only rescued 13 people so far, confirming at least 7 deaths with the rest still missing.
According to local media reports, the maritime law enforcement agencies in the Malaysian states of Kedah and Perlis issued a statement on Sunday, November 9th, stating that these illegal immigrants mainly come from Buthidaung Township in Rakhine State, Myanmar, which is close to the Bangladesh border and a major settlement area for Rohingya refugees.
The Malaysian police and maritime law enforcement agencies revealed that the sunken ship was initially one of the three small boats separated from a larger vessel carrying around 300 migrants. It is believed that as the ship approached Malaysia, the human traffickers ordered the passengers to split onto three small boats, each carrying about 100 people.
Authorities have only confirmed that one of the small boats sank on Friday, November 7th, in the waters north of Langkawi Island in Malaysia and Tarutao Island in southern Thailand. Some individuals drifted to the northern Malaysian resort of Langkawi Island, while the whereabouts of the other two boats remain unknown.
The maritime law enforcement agencies mentioned that the human trafficking boat intended to illegally enter Malaysian waters but capsized in the Malaysia-Thailand border area due to severe weather conditions. Rescuers found 10 survivors on Saturday, November 8th, and recovered the body of a Rohingya woman. Then, on Sunday, 3 survivors and 6 bodies were found, bringing the death toll to 7.
Mustafa, in his statement, mentioned, “The search and rescue area has now expanded to 170 square nautical miles, and we are still making all efforts to search as there might be survivors adrift at sea.”
He further added that the end of each year marks the peak period for the wave of illegal crossings from Myanmar, and the Malaysian maritime law enforcement agencies, along with the navy, coast guard, and immigration department, are collaborating on Operation Guard 5.0 to strengthen patrols in border sea areas to prevent cross-border smuggling.
Mustafa emphasized that illegal immigration is not only a humanitarian issue but also a matter of national security. He stated that human traffickers continue to exploit high-risk routes for cross-border smuggling to profit, with these illegal immigrants often being exploited victims.
The police chief of Kedah State in northern Malaysia, Adzli Abu Shah, disclosed that each of these illegal immigrants pays around 15,000 Malaysian Ringgit (approximately $3,600) in Myanmar currency to the smuggling syndicates.
According to the data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, as of this year, about 5,200 Rohingya people have fled Myanmar and Bangladesh by boat, with nearly 600 reported dead or missing.