Rohingya boat people found adrift near Thai resort
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Rohingyas from Myanmar gather after jumping off their boat, and swimming to shore on Langkawi Island, in the northern part of Malaysia's peninsula, Dec 30, 2012. In a mass attempt at entering Malaysia illegally, 500 Rohingyas, some as young as seven, were forced to jump off a boat and swim 500 metres to the beach in Langkawi Island, reported The Star daily. One person drowned while two others are in critical condition. Picture taken Dec 30, 2012.-- PHOTO:REUTERS
PHUKET (AP) - Officials say a boat carrying about 70 refugees from Myanmar's beleaguered Rohingya minority has been found adrift in the Andaman Sea off the Thai resort of Phuket.
Authorities provided them with food, water, medicine and fuel on Tuesday but would not let them land because Thai policy is not to accept boat people refugees but to aid them in reaching a third country.
The refugees told officials they had been at sea for 13 days and were headed for Malaysia, Thailand's southern neighbour.
Sectarian violence last year in western Myanmar between Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya left hundreds of people dead and many more homeless, forcing more than 100,000 - mostly Rohingya - into squalid refugee camps.