“A coordinated response to this situation, inclusive of search and rescue operations and safe disembarkation, is urgently needed to ensure that those who are still stranded at sea can be brought to safety on land,” said IOM’s Director General Antonio Vitorino on Thursday. Dozens of the more than 380 survivors, many severely dehydrated and malnourished, received urgent medical attention from IOM and its partners after they disembarked near Cox’s Bazar. IOM said it believes that as many as 500 others remain at sea unable to disembark at their intended destination. For years, Rohingya have travelled by sea to Malaysia where they hope to find work and reunite with family members, but the number of movements has slowed in the last few years. For more than five years, IOM has been assisting with the management of the world's largest displacement camp which recently reported its first confirmed cases of Covid-19.

Source: Dhaka Tribune May 28, 2020 11:48 UTC