By The Rohingya Post

“The rations are running out. Most of the people onboard are sick and malnourished. Women and children will not survive. We plead again to rescue us.”

A boat carrying 196 Rohingya, mostly young adults, women and children, has broken down at sea near Thailand en route to Indonesia.

On November 22, the wooden boat left Bangladesh seeking to reach Indonesia through the perilous long journey.

The Rohingya Post has reached a 24-year-old Rohingya passenger onboard the boat through a mobile phone.

“After the engine broken down, we cried and pleaded to two Thai fishing boats to help us rescued. They were not able to help us. Instead, they have given us some fresh drinking water,” he told the Rohingya Post.

He also claimed that four of his fellow Rohingya men have jumped into the water trying to reach and leave with the fishing boats. The men have subsequently drowned in the strong currents.

“The rations are running out. Most of the people onboard are sick and malnourished. Women and children will not survive. We plead again to rescue us,” the man cried out for help.

The ongoing genocide in Myanmar and the protracted refugee crisis with no sights of hope in Bangladesh have forced many Rohingya to seek the dangerous journey to reach Southeast Asian nations. Hundreds of Rohingya men, women and children have vanished in seas or fallen in the hands of human traffickers in the flight to seek safety and a better life.