Bangladesh - Migrants stranded on island rescued

MISNA
Myanmar's navy has discovered 102 Bangladeshi migrants stranded for nearly a month on the island of Saunggauk, off of Kawthaung, in the most southern region on the border with Thailand.

The Myawaddy newspaper reports that the migrants were loaded onto a boat by human traffickers en route for Malaysia with the promise of jobs, but were then all abandoned on the island in early June.

They were among the thousands, many Bangladeshi or Muslim Rohingya from Myanmar, who ended up in dangerously crowded boats run by people-traffickers, heading for other southeast Asian countries. The crisis shed light on the multimillion industry created in the past years on the desperation of tens of thousands fleeing from poverty in Bangladesh and discrimination in Myanmar.

Myanmar's navy on May 29 found 727 people crammed on a fishing boat in the Gulf of Martaban, along the Thanlwin river, in Mon State. Over 150 of these were then repatriated to Bangladesh, while others are still in refugee camps pending identification.

[PL/BO]