Rohingya refugees get emergency treatment after boat lands in Indonesia

Rohingya refugees received emergency medical treatment after a boat carrying nearly 200 people came ashore in Indonesia, authorities said, in the fourth such landing in the country in recent months.

Each year thousands of the mostly Muslim Rohingya, heavily persecuted in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, risk their lives on long, expensive sea journeys - often in poor-quality vessels - in an attempt to reach Malaysia or Indonesia.

"One hundred and eighty-five Rohingya immigrants landed in Pidie (district). The figure consists of 83 adult males, 70 adult females and 32 children," local police spokesman said in a statement.

The refugees were temporarily sheltered at a local facility, with health workers treating those who were sick.

Details on the length and conditions of their journey were not immediately available, but one young arrival said they had set off from Bangladesh.

In recent years some Acehnese fishermen had helped Rohingya boats come ashore but the latest boat was carried to land by the wind, as fishermen had become more reluctant to help.

Boat landing in Aceh came a day after another vessel carrying 57 Rohingya refugees came ashore in the province after a month at sea.

In November, two boats carrying a total of 229 Rohingya landed in the same province, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR.

The UNHCR said over the weekend that some 180 Rohingya at sea for weeks were feared dead.