Rohingya people are numbered around one million in Myanmar at the start of 2017 are one of the many ethnic minorities in the country. Rohingya represent the largest faith percentage in Myanmar with the majority living in Rakhine state.
They have their own language and culture and say they are descendants of Arab traders and other groups who have been in the region for generations. The government of Myanmar denies the Rohingya citizenship and even excluded them from the 2014 census refusing to recognize them. The latest exodus began on 25 August 2017 after Rohingya Arsa militants launched deadly attacks on more than 30 police posts. At least 6,700 Rohingya adults including at least 730 children under the age of five were killed in the month after the violence broke out, according to Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).
The Indian coast guard has found a boat adrift in the Andaman Sea carrying Rohingya refugees, including eight people who had died, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday. Speaking at a videoconference briefing, spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said that on February 11, a boat sailed from Cox s Bazar in Bangladesh carrying 64 women including 8 girls and 26 men including 5 boys. The engine of the boat failed on February 15 and since then it has been drifting. Due to the severe conditions, we understand that eight occupants have died and one of the occupants had been missing since February 15, Srivastava said. When we learnt of the boat in distress, we immediately dispatched two coast guard ships to provide food, water and medical assistance to the occupants. Seven of them were administered IV fluids, he added.