Malaysia intercepts boat carrying Rohingya refugees

Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s navy chief says authorities have detained a boat carrying 56 people believed to be Muslim Rohingya refugees who fled from Myanmar.

Adm Ahmad Kamarulzaman Ahmad Badaruddin says the boat was intercepted after it entered Malaysian waters and is now at the northern resort island of Langkawi.

He said today that all 56 passengers, mostly children and women, were safe but tired and hungry, and were given food and water. The naval chief said the boat and its passengers would be handed over to immigration authorities.

About 700,000 Rohingya have fled western Myanmar’s Rakhine state to neighbouring Bangladesh in the past seven months to escape a brutal counterinsurgency campaign by Myanmar’s army.

Rohingya, treated as undesirables in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, used to flee by sea by the thousands each year.