Sailors help a rescued boy to disembark from a Sri Lanka
Navy vessel at Oluvil harbour today. Sri Lanka's navy on Sunday rescued
138 Bangladeshis and Myanmar nationals from a sinking fishing vessel off
the island's east coast, officials said.
France 24 English
03 February 2013
AFP - Sri Lanka's navy on Sunday rescued 138 Bangladeshis
and Myanmar nationals from a sinking fishing vessel off the island's
east coast, officials said.
One passenger was found dead while many of the 138
plucked from the boat were dehydrated, said navy spokesman Kosala
Warnakulasuriya, adding that the vessel had been adrift for 10 days
before it sank on Sunday.
"We sent three ships for the rescue at a location 50
miles (80 kilometres) off the eastern coast of Akkaraipattu,"
Warnakulasuriya told AFP. "Some have been admitted to a local hospital."
Police said 14 were Myanmar nationals while the others
were Bangladeshis.
Fifteen of the survivors, including two women and two
children, were hospitalised with acute dehydration, police said in a
statement.
"We have difficulty in communicating with the survivors
so we have asked the two embassies to send us translators," police
spokesman Prishantha Jayakody told AFP.
He said statements of survivors would be recorded and
they would be moved to a temporary shelter in Colombo under judicial
supervision. In the meantime, the authorities at Oluvil fishing harbour
were giving them shelter.
"We are certain that they were not trying to enter Sri
Lanka, but their boat developed trouble in mid-sea and they drifted
close to our shores," Jayakody said.
The early-morning rescue came amid stepped up naval
patrols to deter Sri Lankan fishing boats from taking would-be illegal
immigrants to Australia.
Authorities arrested more than 1,200 people trying to
leave the island illegally last year. Many of those who make the
perilous journey pay up to $3,000 for a place on trawlers run by
people-smugglers.
Warnakulasuriya said the passengers rescued on Sunday
identified themselves as Bangladeshi and Myanmar nationals but it was
not yet known where they came from or were headed.
Reports from local fishermen alerted fishing authorities
who in turn asked for help from the navy which mounted a 20-hour search
and rescue operation, officials said.
They said it was unclear if those identified as Myanmar
nationals were Rohingya -- members of a stateless Muslim minority
described by the UN as one of the world's most persecuted groups -- who
had fled Myanmar.
An explosion of tensions between Buddhist and Muslim
communities in Myanmar's western state of Rakhine since June 2012 has
triggered an seaborne exodus of Rohingya.
Thailand's navy blocked more than 200 Rohingya boat
people from entering the kingdom late last month as part of a new
policy, under which they will be given food and water but barred from
landing if their boat is seaworthy.
Sailors assist rescued survivors on a Sri Lanka Navy
vessel at Oluvil harbour today. One passenger was found dead while many
of the 138 plucked from the boat were dehydrated, said navy spokesman
Kosala Warnakulasuriya, adding that the vessel had been adrift for 10
days before it sank on Sunday.
Sailors help rescued survivors at Oluvil fisheries harbour in eastern
Sri Lanka today. Fifteen of the survivors, including two women and two
children, were hospitalised with acute dehydration, police said in a
statement.
