In
this Nov. 11, 2012, photo, Muslim refugees who fled arson attacks that
drove them from their neighborhood in the Myanmar port of Kyaukphyu in
late October sit under makeshift shelters beside their flotilla of
wooden fishing boats on a beach in Sin Thet Maw, Myanmar. Malaysian
police said about 450 asylum seekers from Myanmar landed in Malaysia
Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012, after a dangerous boat journey that left one
dead.
AP PHOTO/TODD PITMAN
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—Police say about 450 asylum seekers
from Myanmar have landed in Malaysia after a dangerous boat journey that
left one dead.
They are one of the largest groups of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims
who’ve reached Malaysia this year after leaving their violence-scarred
hometowns.
A police official on Malaysia’s northern Langkawi island says the
asylum seekers arrived Sunday after a roughly two-week journey on a
wooden boat.
One man drowned while trying to swim ashore, while the others are in police custody.
The official couldn’t say whether they’ll be permitted to stay.
He spoke on condition of anonymity Monday because he couldn’t issue
public statements.
The UN’s refugee agency has about 25,000 Rohingyas registered in
Muslim-majority Malaysia. Some came this year following Muslim-Buddhist
sectarian violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
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