Over 70 Rohingya repatriated from Thailand

BANGKOK, January 2 (TNA) - Immigration authorities in Thailand's southern resort Phuket province were, on Wednesday, repatriating 71 Rohingya ethnics to their home country, after providing them with initial humanitarian assistance. Local officials said that the 71 Rohingya ethnics from neighbouring Myanmar, comprising 49 males and 22 females, earlier illegally arrived in a large-sized long-tailed boat on New Year’s Day and anchored their boat around an island in Phuket's Muang district. Chief of Royal Thai Navy, Region 3, Tharathorn Khajitsuwan told journalists that the local officials had initially given humanitarian assistance to the Rohingya Muslims and taken them ashore for questioning, as it would be dangerous for them to stay in the boat due to choppy sea and heavy rain. The local immigration authorities were, meanwhile, reportedly preparing needed documents to send the Rohingya ethnics back to their home country as soon as possible, probably by Wednesday evening. The 71 Rohingya people were believed to have escaped sectarian violence from their native Rakhine State on the western coast of Myanmar–Bangladesh border. The plight of the Rohingya ethnics has been well documented by the United Nations and other international non-governmental organizations or NGOs. (TNA)