Langkawi, May 13 – A truck carrying Bangladeshi and Rohingya migrants arrives at a temporary detention centre in Langkawi, Malaysia today.
Despite the risks, Rohingya people continue to leave Myanmar in large numbers, fleeing anti-Muslim violence and discrimination in the predominantly Buddhist country.
The UN’s refugee body said that between January and March this year, almost 25,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshis boarded smugglers’ boats; double the number from the same period last year.
More than 8,000 migrants were adrift off the coasts of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said 12 May 2015, posing a potential humanitarian crisis.
Photo: EPA
