International Desk: Rohingya continue to risk the dangerous journey across the Andaman Sea in the hope of a better life in Malaysia or Indonesia. (Reuters File Photo via Reuters)
A group of politicians in Southeast Asia has urged regional governments to immediately launch a search and rescue operation for a boat reported to be carrying hundreds of Rohingya refugees that has been adrift in waters off the coasts of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and India for weeks.
The appeal from the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) on Tuesday came as media outlets in India said the boat – which could be carrying hundreds of refugees including women and children – had drifted from the Malacca Strait and into Indian waters off the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The Quint news website cited satellite coordinates that the captain of the stricken boat gave to a Rohingya refugee – Mohamed Khan Rezuwan – in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar during a phone call on Sunday.

“We are dying here,” the captain told Rezuwan, whose sister and five-year-old niece are also on the boat.

At least three people on board the boat had already died due to starvation and dehydration, Rezuwan told India’s The Print newspaper.