Deadly carnage on foundering Asian migrant boat

[webfact]

Deadly carnage on foundering Asian migrant boat
AFP

Langsa, Indonesia: -- Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants on board a foundering vessel off Indonesia fought with axes, knives and metals bars in vicious clashes that left at least 100 dead, survivors said as they recovered from their ordeal.

Both groups described bloody, nightmarish scenes after the overcrowded vessel was abandoned by its crew last week, with desperate migrants "slaughtering" each other in fierce battles over dwindling supplies.

Exhausted survivors, many bearing bruises and cuts, told AFP from camps in Aceh province they believed between 100 and 200 people were killed in the fighting that erupted Thursday on the boat, which was carrying hundreds of migrants.

They are among nearly 3,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshis who have come ashore in the past week in Southeast Asia, after a Thai crackdown disrupted long-established human-trafficking routes.

While many were hacked to death on board, others jumped from the ship as they sought to escape the carnage, and those that survived were rescued by local fishermen and brought to shore. Both sides blamed the other for starting the fighting.

"Suddenly the Bangladeshis came out of the deck, and they attacked all of us who were on the top of the boat," said Rohingya migrant Asina Begun, 22, speaking to AFP from Langsa, an Aceh town where most of the migrants were taken.

"Those who wanted to save their lives had to jump in the sea, but my brother could not. When they found him, they beat him and then they slaughtered him. After that they threw him into the sea."

However the Bangladeshis said the Rohingya, a Muslim minority fleeing persecution in Myanmar, had been favoured by the boat captain, who only spoke a Myanmar language and gave them all the food and water. They said they were attacked after begging the Rohingya for supplies.

- 'We realised we would die' -

Mohammad Murad Hussein, a Bangladeshi, told how the Rohingya were on the top deck of the boat and the Bangladeshis, who made up the bulk of passengers, were on a lower deck.

As fighting erupted, the Rohingya sought to stop the Bangladeshis coming onto the upper deck by attacking them with axes and spraying water at them that was laced with pepper, he said.

"From the upper deck they were spraying hot water, pepper water at us, anyone who went up was hacked at with a cleaver," said the 30-year-old, whose body was covered with many scars.

"In the end we realised we would die. Then we decided to fight them and bring them down with us."

The boat started leaking and sinking as the violence escalated, at which point many people started jumping into the water, he said.

However, Rohingya refugee Mohammad Amih said the Bangladeshis attacked the Rohingya, after they insisted the remaining water on board should be saved for the children.

Amih said that he had told the Bangladeshis: "We should keep it for the children because they cannot survive without water."

As the Bangladeshis -- most of whom are seeking to escape from grinding poverty back home -- came on to them, Amih said that he tried to hide among the women on board but was soon discovered.

"They hit me on the head and then threw me overboard. After that I swam towards the local fishermen's boats," he said.

As the migrants recovered from the ordeal, their thoughts turned to their families back home. Many have been out of contact with their loved ones for two months, since embarking on the sea voyage.

"We cannot call our families back home, they don't know whether we are alive or not. They probably think we are all dead," said Bangladeshi migrant Mohammad Meshar Ali.


-- (c) Copyright AFP 2015-05-19

[steven100]

Very bad situation.

1. Take care of those on board now by providing food, water & medicine, bandages and whatever is needed.

2. Separate the groups. 2 boats if needed. Separate the fighting parties.

3. Provide enough fuel to get to Myanmar and Bangladesh and send them on there way.

4. Hunt down the traffickers and kill them. That should put a stop to it. !!

Edited May 19, 2015 by steven100

[Rockhound]

Kill the traffickers for sure but other scum will crawl out and take their place. The only way to stop this would be to sort out the countries from which the migrants are fleeing. Unfortunately most of these countries have one thing in common... And we can't even discuss that without being politically incorrect.

[Steely Dan]

It seems so obvious a question I hesitate to even ask, but here goes. How can a boat full of supposed refugees be so chock full of weapons that one hundred people are able to kill one another? I know this boat was in the wrong ocean to beach up on the coast of any secular democracy, but it is indicative as to just how different some cultures can be compared to those who take them in. This is a recipe for disaster when it happens on a large scale.

[ronwparker]

In still blame all the Asean Goverments - especiallly the Thai General and his navy

[SOTIRIOS]

...what do you expect...

...crammed together...teetering on the edge of life and death already....

...get the scum who lured them out to work as slave labor.....

[winstonc]

economic migrants ...????....were they picked up at the same place..???

[cookee68]

And these are the kind of people you want to let into your country, this is their true colours, showing the animals that they are deep down, and how they will react towards others once they have settled into a foreign country, and using the kids as sympathy support from all the people who fall for that shit, let Allah take care of them if he is so almighty.

[anon467367354]

Isn't Myrammar the one to blame for kicking them out of the country?

[Basil B]

Well, among the survivors there must be quite a few murderers...

[WitawatWatawit]

Christ that must have been horrible. Regardless of the rights or wrongs, a lot of innocent people were likely caught up in this shocking tragedy.

[peterb17]

And these are the kind of people you want to let into your country, this is their true colours, showing the animals that they are deep down, and how they will react towards others once they have settled into a foreign country, and using the kids as sympathy support from all the people who fall for that shit, let Allah take care of them if he is so almighty.

You can't say that. It's the Religion of Peace.

[steven100]

In still blame all the Asean Goverments - especiallly the Thai General and his navy

how can you blame the Thai Government and the navy. Ridiculous statement.

They didn't force them onto a boat.

[RigPig]

Isn't Myrammar the one to blame for kicking them out of the country?

I don´t think they are kicking them out, they just don´t acknowlege them, literally. Myanmar sees itself as the first recipeint of economic refugees from Bangldesh. This is the reason no one else wnts them because they would get lumbered with their responsibility. I guess tjheir strategy is working going by the exodus out of the place......

[tingtongfarang]

Isn't Myrammar the one to blame for kicking them out of the country?

Not really, as i see it burma is falsely considered the nearest point of refuge from bangladesh, maybe burma is at fault for allowing them to wander/float in from the offset but no more guilty of not wanting them than thailand, malaysia, indonesia,

I have many burmese friends both inside and outside of the country, on my last visit i spent much of my time in the far north and shan state, and at times i posed the question regarding the problem of rohingya directed at very educated burmese friends,

The impression i got was the fact that they were never welcome but since the advent of isis the effort to move them on has greatly intensified.

[Greer]

In still blame all the Asean Goverments - especiallly the Thai General and his navy

Why blame the Thai government, or the general?

I take it that it might be better to bring the entire group of knife wielding bloodthirsty "refugees" (who have paid thousands to the traffickers) to Thailand and let them live next door to you?

Because that is what you are asking - they will have to live next-door to someone, and if this is how they act, is it fair to impose that on some Thai family, or should our government protect our people and send the boats elsewhere?

Sadly the bleeding heart brigade are aligned with the PC brigade, and would happily destroy the security of our borders - and by "our", I mean virtually every country being targeted by people trafficking - it has to be stopped at source.

The people in those countries have to be made to realise that giving tens of thousands of dollars of cash to people traffickers will NOT secure their passage to a "better" country, and that all they are doing is throwing that money away - then MAYBE this dreadful waste of human life will stop - while there are foolish/desperate people as fodder, the people traffickers will keep making money - they don't care at all if the boats all go to Davy Jones' Locker!

Encouraging this dreadful trade by not turning the boats away, sends all the wrong signals to the people at source. It's a hard truth, but there it is.

[catweazle]

Darwinism in full HD

Biggest problem is that people in need are always getting the "pity bonus", i.e. are considered just great persons and an enrichment for the country they flock into. This article truly shows in explicit detail what those people are made of.

What I would do is to rescue all children on that boat up to the age of 15, take em in, give them best education, citizenship, foster parents, whatever since there still is hope in children and they are the ones least responsible for this misery. The rest (with sufficient food and water on board) is pulled back into the waters of the country of origin. Done!

Edited May 19, 2015 by catweazle

[cardinalblue]

Why does everyone always call these events shocking? Given the circumstances and conditions quite predictable of human behavior.....

CB

[cardinalblue]

I am not sure why we see ourselves any differently and better than these folks. They are not animals or scum of the earth but the combination of the conditions and different ethnicity lead them to commit uncivil, unruly and unregulated behaviors. It would be no different with two rival ethnic/racial/social groups rich or poor educated or uneducated found themselves in the same predicament. Eventually as Thomas Hobbs is correct man is evil when rules regulations controls are removed and it truly becomes a fight for survival turning into an African savanna landscape

Along with the Waco biker clash, another good example of the book/movie "Lord of the Flies"....

CB

[Steely Dan]

Isn't Myrammar the one to blame for kicking them out of the country?

Not really, as i see it burma is falsely considered the nearest point of refuge from bangladesh, maybe burma is at fault for allowing them to wander/float in from the offset but no more guilty of not wanting them than thailand, malaysia, indonesia,

I have many burmese friends both inside and outside of the country, on my last visit i spent much of my time in the far north and shan state, and at times i posed the question regarding the problem of rohingya directed at very educated burmese friends,

The impression i got was the fact that they were never welcome but since the advent of isis the effort to move them on has greatly intensified.

The Burmese had no say in the original influx of Rohingya was I believe due to the colonial British importing them as cheap labour, perhaps with that in mind Britain should take them seeing as it is becoming the local hub for unwanted third world flotsam.

[FangFerang]

Very bad situation.

1. Take care of those on board now by providing food, water & medicine, bandages and whatever is needed.

2. Separate the groups. 2 boats if needed. Separate the fighting parties.

3. Provide enough fuel to get to Myanmar and Bangladesh and send them on there way.

4. Hunt down the traffickers and kill them. That should put a stop to it. !!

I agreed with everything you said ....until you hit number 4.

[FangFerang]

And these are the kind of people you want to let into your country, this is their true colours, showing the animals that they are deep down, and how they will react towards others once they have settled into a foreign country, and using the kids as sympathy support from all the people who fall for that shit, let Allah take care of them if he is so almighty.

What rubbish! If ten Westerners were stranded and only had enough supplies for 5 people -- life and death struggles would occur, especially if there were children and their guardians in the group.

[steven100]

Very bad situation.

1. Take care of those on board now by providing food, water & medicine, bandages and whatever is needed.

2. Separate the groups. 2 boats if needed. Separate the fighting parties.

3. Provide enough fuel to get to Myanmar and Bangladesh and send them on there way.

4. Hunt down the traffickers and kill them. That should put a stop to it. !!

I agreed with everything you said ....until you hit number 4.

I thought number 4 was a priority .... what's your suggestion ?

[Berkshire]

Isn't Myrammar the one to blame for kicking them out of the country?

Not really, as i see it burma is falsely considered the nearest point of refuge from bangladesh, maybe burma is at fault for allowing them to wander/float in from the offset but no more guilty of not wanting them than thailand, malaysia, indonesia,

I have many burmese friends both inside and outside of the country, on my last visit i spent much of my time in the far north and shan state, and at times i posed the question regarding the problem of rohingya directed at very educated burmese friends,

The impression i got was the fact that they were never welcome but since the advent of isis the effort to move them on has greatly intensified.

What??? You can't be serious. The government of Myanmar is 100% to blame for this crisis. Pretty much the entire world is in agreement on this. In fact, some are even calling what the Myanmar gov is doing "genocide"...

http://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2015/05/19/exp-ns-myanmar-rohingya-de-la-cour-venning.cnn

....and apartheid

http://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2014/11/12/pkg-watson-myanmar-rohingya-rakhine-explainer.cnn