• Burmese
Sunday, June 22, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
25 °c
Yangon
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home News Burma

More than 100 Rohingya Refugees Wash Ashore on Rathedaung Beach

Moe Myint by Moe Myint
June 12, 2018
in Burma
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0 0
A A
Shipwrecked Rohingya refugees wait to be transported from Rathedaung Township to northern Maungdaw's Nga Khu Ya reception camp in Rakhine State on Monday. / Thein Win / Facebook 

Shipwrecked Rohingya refugees wait to be transported from Rathedaung Township to northern Maungdaw's Nga Khu Ya reception camp in Rakhine State on Monday. / Thein Win / Facebook 

5.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

YANGON – More than 100 Rohingya refugees had a narrow escape in the Bay of Bengal on Monday as their damaged vessel drifted ashore in northern Rakhine State’s Rathedaung Township. Some of those on board said the vessel had been bound for Malaysia, but it remained unclear Tuesday whether their journey had begun in Rakhine or a refugee camp in Bangladesh.

According to a statement from the government’s Information Committee, local authorities were informed in the early hours of Monday that 104 people were sheltering on a stretch of beach between Aung Bala Chaung Wa village and Don Piek village near southern Maungdaw Township. The local officials discovered a 40-ft-long, 20-ft-high boat along with 60 female and 44 male passengers. According to passengers, the hull of the boat cracked as the vessel was buffeted by strong winds. The boat eventually drifted ashore in Rathedaung.

The statement referred to the stranded passengers simply as “Islam believers”, avoiding the terms “Bengali” — the name used by many in Myanmar to refer to Muslims from northern Rakhine State, seeing them as immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh who arrived during British rule — and “Rohingya” (the term used by the community itself).

RelatedPosts

Bangladesh Recalls Ambassador to Myanmar

Bangladesh Recalls Ambassador to Myanmar

May 29, 2025
2.6k
Paranoid Junta Turns to Foreign Expertise After 4 Years of Chaos; and More

Paranoid Junta Turns to Foreign Expertise After 4 Years of Chaos; and More

May 10, 2025
1.6k
Myanmar Junta Rejects Bangladeshi Call for Rohingya State

Myanmar Junta Rejects Bangladeshi Call for Rohingya State

May 2, 2025
10.4k

Authorities transported the refugees in four vehicles to Nga Khu Ya refugee reception camp in northern Maungdaw about 85 km from Don Piek village in Rathedaung Township in order to verify the group’s origins.

U San Thein, a resident of Ahngu Maw village in Rathedaung Township who had been to the site where the boat made land, told The Irrawaddy that authorities initially discovered 65 people, and found the rest later in several groups at different locations. According to him, the group comprised 10 children, 35 men and 56 women — three fewer than the count later provided by officials. Some reportedly said they had been en route to Malaysia for five days, but passengers gave conflicting statements as to the vessel’s point of departure.

Some of them said they had departed from a refugee camp in Bangladesh. About 700,000 Rohingya refugees are currently sheltering in camps there after being driven out by Myanmar military clearance operations against the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which staged serial attacks on government security outposts in August 2017.

As their account could not be verified, it remains unclear whether all of the passengers left from the same location in Bangladesh, or if in fact they are all from Rathedaung and were attempting to leave the strife-torn zone for a fresh start in another country. Travel by Rohingya Muslims is heavily restricted both in and outside Rakhine. Rohingya are occasionally arrested by police for attempting to travel to Yangon without the necessary documents from the Immigration Department.

According to the Information Committee’s statement, in May 2015 authorities located and assisted 228 Bangladeshi boat people in southern Maungdaw before transferring them to the custody of Bangladeshi authorities. That same month, authorities discovered 743 boat people in Irrawaddy Division’s Pyar Pon Township. After identifying them as Bangladeshi nationals with the help of the Bangladesh Embassy, it repatriated them through official channels.

U Ko Ko Thaw, an immigration official in northern Maungdaw’s Taungpyo sub-township who is leading the process of registering displaced people, declined to answer specific questions when contacted via telephone by The Irrawaddy, saying the case is being handled by officials at the Nga Khu Ya reception camp.

Myanmar and Bangladesh signed a refugee reparation agreement in November 2017 but as of Tuesday not a single refugee had been transferred to Maungdaw reception camp through official channels. A small number of people have attempted to return from the Bangladesh camps to the Maungdaw border without authorization, leading to the arrest of 62 returnees by local authorities. Of these, President U Myint Myint has pardoned 58 and four have had the charges against them dropped. This group was sent to the refugee reception camp for registration. A few days after their return, about 10 of them fled the camp. Authorities believe they returned to their place of origin.

To accelerate the return of refugees from Bangladesh, the Myanmar government recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with two UN agencies, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The MoU concluded a negotiation process that began in February. Moreover, the government last week announced plans to establish a credible investigation team including one high-profile international member and two Myanmar nationals to look into alleged human rights violations in northern Rakhine State linked to both ARSA and members of the security forces.

Min Aung Khine contributed to this report from Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State. 

Your Thoughts …
Tags: RefugeesRohingya
Moe Myint

Moe Myint

The Irrawaddy

Similar Picks:

Myanmar Youth Exodus Feared in Wake of Junta’s Conscription Law
Burma

Myanmar Youth Exodus Feared in Wake of Junta’s Conscription Law

by The Irrawaddy
February 15, 2024
15.7k

Activists warn of increased labor rights violations in Thailand and human trafficking as young people flee to avoid mandatory military...

Read moreDetails
By Almost Every Measure, Myanmar Junta Ranks Among World’s Worst Regimes
Analysis

By Almost Every Measure, Myanmar Junta Ranks Among World’s Worst Regimes

by Khin Nadi
February 2, 2024
10.8k

The Irrawaddy unpacks the regime’s three-year track record of violence and rights abuses, as assessed by leading global organizations and...

Read moreDetails
Myanmar Junta Rejects Bangladeshi Call for Rohingya State
Burma

Myanmar Junta Rejects Bangladeshi Call for Rohingya State

by Maung Kavi
May 2, 2025
10.4k

A political party in Bangladesh says a Rohingya-majority area of Rakhine State should become an independent state for returning refugees.

Read moreDetails
Karen Ethnic Army Launches Final Push to Capture Myawaddy on Thai Border
Burma

Karen Ethnic Army Launches Final Push to Capture Myawaddy on Thai Border

by The Irrawaddy
April 9, 2024
10.3k

The KNLA and PDF groups launched an attack on the last junta battalion defending Myawaddy on Tuesday afternoon and were...

Read moreDetails
The Uncertain Future of Myanmar’s Rakhine State
Guest Column

The Uncertain Future of Myanmar’s Rakhine State

by David Scott Mathieson
March 19, 2025
9.6k

The Arakan Army must now consolidate its unprecedented territorial gains in Rakhine State and contend with humanitarian, intercommunal and international...

Read moreDetails
Once Upon a Time in… Myanmar
Books

Once Upon a Time in… Myanmar

by David Scott Mathieson
October 14, 2024
9.5k

American photojournalist Greg Constantine’s ‘Ek Khaale’ project assembles old photos and documents to reclaim the Rohingya community’s identity.

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
A sign reading ‘From 21st-Century Panglong to Democratic Federal Union’ is seen in downtown Moulmein, Mon State on Sunday. / Nyein Nyein / Irrawaddy

Aung San Suu Kyi to Chair Peace Talks in Mon State

Detained Reuters journalist Wa Lone arrives for the court hearing in Yangon, Myanmar, June 12, 2018. / Reuters

Witness No-Show as Reuters Reporters Mark Six Months in Myanmar Detention

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

Trade and Traffic from Thai Border Region Dwindle as Checkpoints Multiply

Trade and Traffic from Thai Border Region Dwindle as Checkpoints Multiply

2 days ago
900
The Lady Myanmar’s Generals Can’t Defeat

The Lady Myanmar’s Generals Can’t Defeat

3 days ago
664

Most Read

  • Myanmar Junta Moves to Seize Sagaing Roads

    Myanmar Junta Moves to Seize Sagaing Roads

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Certifying a Chinese Security Invasion; Boosting Ties With Nuclear North Korea; and More

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta Changes Election Law Ahead of Polls

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Residents of Myanmar Ruby Hub Speak Out as TNLA Mining Takes Toll

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Trade and Traffic from Thai Border Region Dwindle as Checkpoints Multiply

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.