India News | Boat Carrying Suspected Rohingyas Intercepted in Andaman

Port Blair, Dec 24 (PTI) A boat carrying at least 142 suspected Rohingya refugees, including women and children, was intercepted by coastal security agencies near Shaheed Dweep in Andaman and Nicobar Islands on Sunday, police said.

The boat left from Bangladesh around 14-15 days ago and was on its way to Indonesia, they said.

Also Read | SBI Clerk Prelims 2023: Exam Schedule Released For Recruitment of 8283 Posts at sbi.co.in, Check Details.

On Sunday morning, the Port Blair police control room received a call from the local intelligence about suspicious boat movement near Shaheed Dweep (previously known as Neil Island), and multiple coastal security agencies (including the navy, coast guard and marine police) swung into action and located it, officials said.

Those onboard include 47 women and 59 minors.

Also Read | Nagpur: Depressed Over Wife's Death, Man Dies by Suicide.

The boat was towed to Shaheed Dweep by the marine police, as it developed some technical snag and was unfit for further journey, police said.

All of them were taken to Port Blair and kept in a temporary shelter by the local administration for further instruction from the central government, they said.

Earlier, on February 13, a motorboat with 69 Rohingyas had reached the Nicobar district. It was travelling to Indonesia, but got disrupted by bad weather, the officials said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)