LANGSA, Indonesia -- More than 1,000 people fleeing persecution in Burma and poverty in Bangladesh went ashore Friday around Southeast Asia, describing murder, extortion and near-starvation after surviving a harrowing journey at sea.
An increasingly alarmed United Nations warned against "floating coffins" and urged regional leaders to put human lives first. The United States urged governments not to push back new boat arrivals.
The waves of weak, hungry and dehydrated people who arrived Friday were the latest to slip into countries that have made it clear the refugees are not welcome. But thousands more are still believed stranded at sea.
Most of the people were crammed onto three boats that Indonesian fishermen towed ashore, while 106 people were found on a Thai island known for its world-class scuba diving and were moved to the mainland.
"If I had known that the boat journey would be so horrendous, I would rather have just died in [Burma]," said Manu Abudul Salam, 19, a Rohingya from Burma's Rakhine state where three years of attacks against the long-persecuted Muslim minority group have sparked the region's largest exodus of boat people since the Vietnam War.
Burma is often called Myanmar, a name that ruling military authorities adopted in 1989.
Manu was aboard the largest boat to move ashore Friday, a wooden vessel crammed with nearly 800 people that was towed to the Indonesian village of Langsa in eastern Aceh province.
The vessel was at sea when authorities around the region began cracking down on human trafficking two weeks ago. Aid groups and rights workers have warned that the crackdown prompted some captains and smugglers to abandon their ships and leave people to fend for themselves -- a claim corroborated by survivors who stepped ashore Friday.
Manu said she watched the captain on her ship fleeing on a speedboat several days ago after apparently receiving a call on his cellphone. Before he left, he destroyed the boat's engine, she said, and the boat began to drift.
With food and water running out, tempers flared and fighting broke out, Manu said, saying her 20-year-old brother was among dozens killed in violent clashes between the Bangladeshis and Rohingya on board.
"They thought the captain was from our country, so they attacked us with sticks and knives," she said.
A 19-year-old Bangladeshi survivor, Saidul Islam, also said dozens died on the ship from starvation and injuries after fighting broke out when the captain left. Islam's voyage lasted three months, starting when a man turned up at his village and asked if anyone wanted a boat ride to Malaysia, known for better job prospects. But once at sea, the captain demanded hundreds of dollars and made the men call their families to secure payment.
In the past three years, more than 120,000 Rohingya have boarded ships to flee to other countries, according to the U.N. refugee agency.
Burma, in its first official comments as the crisis escalated in the past two weeks, indicated that it won't take back people who claim to be Rohingya, who are denied citizenship in Burma.
"We cannot say that the migrants are from [Burma] unless we can identify them," said government spokesman Ye Htut. "Most victims of human trafficking claim they are from [Burma] as it is very easy and convenient for them."
Another official, Maj. Zaw Htay, said Burma "will not attend a regional meeting hosted by Thailand if 'Rohingya' is mentioned on the invitation." Even the name is taboo in Burma, which calls them "Bengalis" and insists that the 1.3 million Rohingya are illegal aliens from Bangladesh, even though Rohingya have lived in the majority-Buddhist country for generations.
Thailand has convened a meeting of senior officials for May 29.
The deputy spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, Farhan Haq, said Friday that Ban Ki-moon plans to speak with regional leaders to urge them to put human lives first. "We don't want them, in other words, to be in floating coffins," Haq said.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called his Thai counterpart Thursday night to discuss the possibility of Thailand providing people temporary shelter, State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said. Rathke did not disclose the Thai response.
Most of the foreigners are believed to be heading to Malaysia, a Muslim country that has hosted more than 45,000 Rohingya over the years but now says it can't accept any more. Indonesia and Thailand have voiced similar stances.
Earlier this week, about 1,600 people were rescued by the Malaysian and Indonesian navies, but both countries then sent other boats away. It wasn't clear whether those who moved ashore Friday had been turned away earlier.
Information for this article was contributed by Thanyarat Doksone, Eileen Ng, Niniek Karmini and Matthew Pennington of The Associated Press.
A Section on 05/16/2015
http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/1000-reach-land-tell-of-horrors/
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