SATUN, Sept 11 – Some 250 Rohingya boat refugees were rescued today while sailing to a third country during a storm which hit the coast of this southern Thai province.
Police and administration officials in Thung Wa district inspected the beach where the ethnic Muslim minority refugees were found struggling to come ashore with the help of local villagers.
Konklan village chief Somnuek Kunsaeng said the Rohingya people were trying to disembark on the coast due to the monsoon season, together with their food supplies running out.
The group were adrift for 15 days. Two were ill and unable to swim to shore, while the rest managed to swim safely to land.
Mr Somnuek said families in his village provided temporary shelter in a public park, as well as food and beverages.
Meanwhile, in Songkhla province, authorities are searching for 28 Rohingya women and children who fled from a provincial shelter for children and families last night.
They were among 54 boat arrivals who were sent there and escaped detention during daily Muslim worship outside the detention facility.
Centre chief Nittaya Mutamas said as the facility is not designed as a detention centre, the number of local administration workers caring for and watching over the Rohingyas are not many and they cannot monitor all their moves.
Ms Nittaya said she had told the Rohingya people living at the shelter to be patient and wait for the help of the concerned authorities, but said she had failed to convince them.
The escapees, most of them mothers and children, were believed to have joined their husbands living in neighbouring Malaysia, according to the centre director.
