Bangladeshi migrants sit inside a temporary shelter upon arrival at Kuala Langsa Port in Langsa, Aceh province.
JAKARTA, Indonesia — More than 800 migrants have landed on the shores of Indonesia and Thailand after being adrift at sea for weeks, authorities said yesterday. They are among the few who have successfully sneaked past a wall of resistance mounted by Southeast Asian countries who have made it clear the boat people are not welcome.
Several thousand refugees from Bangladesh and Myanmar — fleeing either poverty or persecution — are believed to be adrift on boats in the Andaman Sea in what has become a spiraling humanitarian crisis. In recent days, about 2,000 landed in Malaysia and Indonesia, but both countries then said they could not accept anymore.
Fishermen, however, towed two boats to Indonesia’s eastern Aceh province early yesterday — one with nearly 700 people and another carrying 47, police said. The larger boat was on the verge of sinking when fishermen brought it to the fishing village of Langsa, according to Lt. Col. Sunarya, who like many Indonesians uses only one name. He said everyone aboard was weak from hunger and dehydration.