Rohingya refugees rescued after drifting at sea for over a week

A group of 76 Rohingyas, which was rescued from Indonesian waters on Friday, was at the sea for nearly nine days. According to reports, a Rohingya Muslim man, among the rescued, claimed that the group kept drifting in a wooden boat for nine days after leaving Myanmar.

The group is reported to have faced intense persecution in Myanmar. As many as 8 children, 25 women and 43 men were brought ashore on Friday afternoon in Aceh province of Sumatra in Indonesia. 

This was the third such attempt in a month by the Rohingyas to escape Myanmar by the sea.

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According to the local authorities, many from the rescued group suffered dehydration and exhaustion and required medical attention.  

A man called Fariq Muhammad shared that he had paid a sum equivalent to around $150 to secure a place on the boat. 

Myanmar's Rakhine state grapples with a violent military crackdown that triggered an exodus of nearly 700,000 refugees into neighbouring Bangladesh.