At least 382 starving Rohingya refugees who had been drifting at sea for nearly two months have been rescued by Bangladesh's coastguard, reports emerged on Thursday. Alerted by the locals, the coastguard launched a three-day hunt for the boat, locating it on Wednesday night off its south-eastern coast, spokesman Lt. Shah Zia Rahman said, according to a report in The Guardian. "We have rescued at least 382 Rohingya from a big overcrowded fishing trawler and brought them to a beach near Teknaf. They were starving," Rahman said. The spokesman also said that more than 30 refugees died on board. "They were floating for 58 days. And over the last seven days it was moving in our territorial waters," he added. Some reports said the boat had been turned back by Malaysia because of the coronavirus pandemic. It is unclear whether the refugees had left from Bangladesh or from Myanmar, where they are originally from. Pictures on social media showed groups of emaciated people, mostly women and children, standing on a beach. A local government administrator said officials were still counting the rescued but that he feared the number could exceed 400. The Dhaka Tribune said the ship was packed with nearly 500 Rohingya. — Agencies
