Hundreds of boatpeople were rescued by local fishermen from their wooden vessels off Indonesia's Aceh province on Wednesday, officials and fishermen said.
Search and rescue officials said that 426 migrants, believed to be from Myanmar, had been rescued from two different boats off Aceh's coast in the early hours.
The first batch of 102 were brought to shore at 2 am (1900 GMT Tuesday) and taken to a village in East Aceh district, said search and rescue agency official Khairul Nova.
The second batch were found in their boat about 40 miles (65 kilometres) off the coast and were brought to a port in the Julok area of East Aceh district a few hours later, said another official, Sadikin, who goes by one name.
"They found the boat bobbing about, the engine was dead, the fishermen felt pity for them," he told AFP.
"Some looked very sick and weak, some looked dehydrated, there seems to be a lack of water and food at sea," he said, adding there were many babies and children among the migrants.
"We are giving first aid to these people, we are feeding them, giving them water and providing a comfortable place for them."
Teuku Nyak Idrus, a local fisherman involved in the rescue, said the migrants' condition was "very weak".
"Many are sick, they told me that some of their friends died from starvation," he told AFP.
He said local people were providing food and water, and medics were treating the sick.
The rescues came as the foreign ministers of Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia were meeting near Kuala Lumpur to discuss Southeast Asia's migrant boat crisis.
Some 1,500 Muslim Rohingya from Myanmar, fleeing persecution, and Bangladeshis, seeking to escape grinding poverty, have already arrived in Aceh in recent days after being abandoned by people smugglers.
They are among several thousand who have made it to land in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand after being dumped by smugglers following the disruption of long-established human-trafficking routes.
Myanmar's treatment of the impoverished and marginalised Muslim Rohingya community is widely seen as one of the root causes of the surge in migrants making the perilous journey across the Bay of Bengal.
A foreign ministry statement in state media said Myanmar "shares concerns" of the international community and is "ready to provide humanitarian assistance to anyone who suffered in the sea."
Hundreds of boatpeople were rescued by local fishermen from their wooden vessels off Indonesia’s Aceh province on Wednesday, officials and fishermen said.
Search and rescue officials said that 426 migrants, believed to be from Myanmar, had been rescued from two different boats off Aceh’s coast in the early hours.
The first batch of 102 were brought to shore at 2 am (1900 GMT Tuesday) and taken to a village in East Aceh district, said search and rescue agency official Khairul Nova.
The second batch were found in their boat about 40 miles (65 kilometres) off the coast and were brought to a port in the Julok area of East Aceh district a few hours later, said another official, Sadikin, who goes by one name.
“They found the boat bobbing about, the engine was dead, the fishermen felt pity for them,” he told AFP.
“Some looked very sick and weak, some looked dehydrated, there seems to be a lack of water and food at sea,” he said, adding there were many babies and children among the migrants.
“We are giving first aid to these people, we are feeding them, giving them water and providing a comfortable place for them.”
Teuku Nyak Idrus, a local fisherman involved in the rescue, said the migrants’ condition was “very weak”.
“Many are sick, they told me that some of their friends died from starvation,” he told AFP.
He said local people were providing food and water, and medics were treating the sick.
The rescues came as the foreign ministers of Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia were meeting near Kuala Lumpur to discuss Southeast Asia’s migrant boat crisis.
Some 1,500 Muslim Rohingya from Myanmar, fleeing persecution, and Bangladeshis, seeking to escape grinding poverty, have already arrived in Aceh in recent days after being abandoned by people smugglers.
They are among several thousand who have made it to land in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand after being dumped by smugglers following the disruption of long-established human-trafficking routes.
Myanmar’s treatment of the impoverished and marginalised Muslim Rohingya community is widely seen as one of the root causes of the surge in migrants making the perilous journey across the Bay of Bengal.
A foreign ministry statement in state media said Myanmar “shares concerns” of the international community and is “ready to provide humanitarian assistance to anyone who suffered in the sea.”
