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A four-year-old has his thumbprint taken at Chalong yesterday

More Boatpeople Land North of Phuket: Third Boat May Be Lost at Sea

Sunday, March 24, 2013
PHUKET: A boat carrying 39 Rohingya refugees arrived north of Phuket soon after 107 landed on and around Phuket yesterday.

A third boat containing 69 more Rohingya is expected to appear off Thailand's coast at any moment - unless it has been lost at sea.

All three boats were apprehended by the Indian Navy off the coast of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, an Indian protectorate. The 215 Rohingya were set free and ''helped on'' by the Indian Navy on March 19.

Phuketwan talked to all 96 Rohingya who landed yesterday in two groups at Koh Lon, a small island off Phuket's southern coast near Chalong, a well-known harbor for yachts and tourist day-trippers.

Their names are listed below.

Another 11 Rohingya (eight men, one woman and two children) from the same boat were apprehended by local police from Vichit, south of Phuket City, after they swam all the way to Phuket in fear that the boat was sinking.

Disturbingly, a few of the listed Rohingya have disappeared while in the custody of Thai authorities.

Forty-four passengers stuck with the flimsy boat which made it to the Lon island pier while the other Rohingya swam ashore to a nearby Lon island beach.

Soon after, local fishermen and residents transported the swimming passengers to the pier to join their fellow-travellers.

The entire group was then transferred to Chalong Police Station where their names and thumbprints were taken and where they were given more food and water.

The adult male Rohingya were behind bars at Phuket Immigration Headquarters in Phuket City today while four women and 20 children were in the care of a Phuket family refuge.

Managers at the centre sent the 20 children to Vachira Phuket Hospital to have their status as under-18 minors verified today.

The Royal Thai Navy was not involved in apprehending or processing the group. Phuket Marine Police arrived to catalogue the Rohingya on Lon island before transferring them ashore.

Their boat, a hulk that had taken water below decks, was hauled away.

North of Phuket at Takuapa, the 39 Rohingya (including two women) in yesterday's second Andaman coast arrival were being held and questioned by local police.

Most Immigration centres across southern Thailand - and especially the facility in Phang Nga - are already jam-packed with Rohingya men.

About 1700 Rohingya were taken into custody by Thai authorities following raids on people-trafficking camps. Those raids came with the revelation by Phuketwan that boats which once carried only men and boys were now carrying entire families.

Yesterday's Phuket boat contained children as young as four, a man aged 73, and a disabled man with a withered leg who can only walk with the aid of a stick.

The appearance of women and children, including the very old and the very young, indicates that levels of persecution and oppression in the Burmese government's ethnic cleansing campaign are becoming unbearable.

One of the passengers, Mamod Donhok. 30, said: ''There were about 10,000 people in the camp outside Sittwe, in squalid conditions. We are not allowed to work. There are serious health care problems and little aid gets through.

''We left on the boats together on January 22 and were apprehended on January 26. They kept us at Nicobar island until March 19, then gave us food and fuel and let us sail. We want to go to Malaysia.''

Mamod left his wife Schida, 26, and three young children in the Sittwe displaced persons camp.

The race-hate campaign being conducted against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state since October now appears to have spread south to the city of Meikhtila, where Muslims and Buddhists are killing each other.

Rohingya Held at Phuket's Lon Island



1. Soryot, 20

2. Mamod Tuyou, 19

3. Mongtem, 15

4. Nutuson, 18

5. Mamot Rofik, 20

6. Mamod Toyou, 30

7. Yamahudson, 20

8. Sornyot Donla, 20

9. Kolomola, 30

10. Chaved, 15

11. Sodun Amin, 21

12. Nu Isalam, 17

13. Mammod Asyou, 14

14. Mamod Asban, 15

15. Mamod Auson, 20

16. Abet Amin, 18

17. Nulu Amin, 25

18. Mamod Isalam, 13

19. Nujemalok, 25

20. Amit Amod, 20

21. Manamod Jina, 18

22. Karust, 18

23. Sonsun Amin, 15

24. Mamod Amin, 12

25. Mamod Uone, 25

26. Mamod Achet, 18

27. Mamod Mason, 18

28. Mamos Sulim, 22

29. Isukan, 15

30. Monila Haman, 18

31. Amin Surit, 11

32. Ukurimot, 20

33. Asun, 29

34. Hamd Ededit, 40

35. Muhadin, 18

36. Habin Borchon, 17

37. Abdon Habat, 15

38. Ason, 14

39. Kaman, 14

40. Muhamad Yunan, 17

41. Sertikang, 15

42. Mamod Donhok, 30

43. Monjiraman, 20

44. Mamod Kan, 20

45. Acha, 25

46. Muhit Monla, 35

47. Chong Chu Islam, 50

48. Sobi Aunla, 35

49. Sobi Amad, 25

50. Abdunhaled, 22

51. Nulurang, 30

52. Maburang, 22

53. Tolu, 17

54. Mamoota, 26

55. Emanuson, 13

56. Nusborchot, 30

57. Rohimunla, 25

58. Yamamad, 17

59. Along, 18

60. Luhonla, 20

61. Muhamad, 18

62. Muhamad, 9

63. Muhamad hason, 19

64. Mamod, 15

65. Chawadin, 12

66. Mahamod Alam, 16

67. Hamidtuson, 25

68. Duhunla, 30

69. Chahudin, 12

70. Mahamad Alam, 16

71. Hamid Auson, 25

72. Momor, 25

73. Adunluchi, 73

74. Soyot Tuson, 20

75. Solon Abusubia, 15

76. Abdunla, 22

77. Sabukolin, 15

78. Innamin, 17

79. Motowit, 16

80. Kalu, 20

81. Mahamad Sadin, 4

82. Mahamod Hidu, 23

83. Alee Cha, 17

84. Sokolier, 30

85. Javed, 30

86. Majadukulim, 14

87. Allonamin, 10

88. Nun Sadet, 6

89. Rofik, 20

90. Idilat, 40

91. Sonsula Amin, 17

92. Rihiban, 16 (Woman)

93. Forima, 18 (Woman)

94. Menalee, 13 (Woman)

95. Haleesa, 22 (Woman)

96. Kotisa, 15 (Woman)

Comments

Comments have been disabled for this article.

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The traffickers are waiting to sell this people. So ,Thai authority should give them shelter .They fled genocide to save their lives.

Posted by m on March 24, 2013 22:50

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Phuketwan - thank you for the continued coverage and concern for their welfare.

Posted by Glenn on March 25, 2013 06:40

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Did they apply for asylum? From what I understand the Rohingya are aiming to get to Malaysia a "fellow muslim country" to seek work there. If they were fleeing genocide you would see women and children on these boats, and not only young men, as it is now.

Posted by christian on March 25, 2013 10:01

Editor Comment:

How wrong you are, christian. Women and children have been found on most boats this year. Phuketwan reported the first independent account of women and children among passengers on a boat that reached Phuket on January 1. As the latest article says of the weekend's arrivals: ''Four women and 20 children were in the care of a Phuket family refuge. Yesterday's Phuket boat contained children as young as four, a man aged 73, and a disabled man with a withered leg who can only walk with the aid of a stick.'' Is that 'genocide' enough for you? Rohingya are not given the option of applying for asylum in Thailand.

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Dear Christian,
You are advised to visit and interview the Rohingyas boat people detainees in Thailand .You are also requested to visit Arakan where genocide on Rohingyas have been in place since June ,2013. Please refrain from nonsense comment without knowing the fact.The Rohingyas fled the concentration camp of Thien Sein which is worse than Hitler's ones.

Posted by Maung Kyaw Nu on March 25, 2013 19:30

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Today in Spiegel Online there is a story about the Sinai peninsula in Egypt, where local tribesmen and muslim extremists/bandits catch fleeing Africans on their way to Israel and Europe and torture them for ransom. It is said that thousands have perished.
Nobody is being held accountable. What a world. And it is running for years as this CNN documentation shows:
CNN: http://tinyurl.com/7f55gsu
Nytimes: http://tinyurl.com/d8hjr4v

Judging from the articles there and here on Phuketwan, the similarities are striking. Like torture ransom on the poorest and weakest, little thin refugees is the new game in town.

The Thai society should ask itself, if they want this to happen to their national soul. Good the government seem to start to act, like closing some of the camps and investigating claims, that military and police officials were in it, but the treatment of the Rohingyas is still a shame. Can't there be an official and safe transport of catched boat people to Malaysia for example sponsored by some Muslim foundation?

Posted by Lena on March 25, 2013 23:05

Editor Comment:

What's certainly true is that the treatment of Rohingya will grow worse over time if Burma and the traffickers are allowed to do as they please. The answer is simple: stop Burma treating Muslims as though they don't belong. The Buddhists and Muslims of Thailand's Andaman coast live in peace and harmony but sympathy for the Rohingya continues to grow. Thailand cannot be seen to be a party to unjust persecution.

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You mentioned they were not out for economic gain, yet the Phuket Gazette printed this ''We arrested 37 men and two women who told us they left Rakhine state in a fishing boat on March 6. They intended to reach either Thailand or Malaysia to look for work,'' Col Kemarin explained.' They should all be extradited a.s.a.p. Thailand is not the world's refugee camp.

Posted by Ian on March 26, 2013 10:52

Editor Comment:

We've spoken to scores of Rohingya and not one of them has said that Thailand is their destination. Perhaps you need to take the time to read about what's happening in Burma, and perhaps the colonel should, too. Thailand (and you, Ian) should press Burma to end its race-hate policy or face ever-worsening problems. It's called ''ethnic cleansing.'' Extradite unwanted, stateless people to where precisely, Ian?


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