(Geneva) The UN called on Saturday for the rescue of 185 people, mainly women and children, aboard a boat in distress in the Indian Ocean.
About 70 of the people on board are children, while 88 are women, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement, adding that the boat was near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, in the Indian Ocean.
“At least a dozen of them are said to be in critical condition and one person is believed to have died,” it was added.
“Many more could die […] without being rescued in time. »
A UNHCR spokesperson, Babar Baloch, told AFP the agency was contacting and urging all authorities in coastal countries in the region to rescue the migrants, believed to be Rohingya.
“It really is a desperate situation,” he said.
Thousands of Rohingya, mostly Muslims, persecuted in Burma, undertake risky sea journeys each year from Burma and refugee camps in Bangladesh to try to reach Malaysia or Indonesia.
More than 2,000 Rohingya are believed to have attempted this risky journey to Southeast Asian countries in 2022, according to the UNHCR.
And since last year, more than 570 people, including Rohingya refugees, have been reported killed or missing at sea in the region, according to the statement.