Sri Lanka Navy rescues over 100 Rohingya adrift in the Indian Ocean
Al Jazeera
The 102 refugees, including 25 children, were taken to Sri Lanka’s eastern port of Trincomalee.
More than 100 Rohingya refugees from war-torn Myanmar have been rescued while adrift on a fishing trawler off the Indian Ocean island nation by Sri Lanka’s navy, bringing them safely to port.
The 102 people, including 25 children, were taken to Sri Lanka’s eastern port of Trincomalee, a navy spokesman said on Friday.
“Medical checks have to be done before they are allowed to disembark,” the spokesman said.
The Muslim-majority ethnic Rohingya are heavily persecuted in Myanmar and thousands risk their lives each year on long sea journeys, the majority heading southeast to Malaysia or Indonesia.
But fisherman spotted the drifting trawler off Sri Lanka’s northern coast at Mullivaikkal at dawn on Thursday.
