Boat refugees tell of brutal struggles for food

Migrants sleep at a temporary shelter in Langsa, Indonesia. Photo / AP

Migrants stranded at sea for four months off Indonesia resorted to stabbing, hanging each other and throwing passengers overboard in a desperate struggle for the last remaining food, according to those who finally made it to land.

Survivors from a boat that landed in Indonesia late last week have given horrific accounts of brutal clashes over the dwindling supplies.

Varying accounts said between seven and 100 people died during the fights, which apparently involved ethnic-based violence among migrants who were all from Burma and Bangladesh.

Mahmud Rafiq, 21, a Rohingya man from Burma, blamed the attacks on the Bengalis, saying they refused to give the remaining food to women and children.

"They then started hitting us. They took the food," he said. "They pushed many of us overboard. They beat us and attacked us with knives."

Mohammad Abdur Rahim, 23, a Bengali, blamed the Rohingyas. "Burma people do not give us any food, any water, they are torturing [us] every day."

The violence erupted on a boat carrying about 700 people which was reportedly rejected by the Indonesian Navy and escorted to Malaysian waters, where it was rejected by the Malaysian Navy. It ended in Indonesian waters, where the passengers were rescued by local fishermen.

The UN urged Southeast Asian nations to accept the thousands of migrants from Burma and Bangladesh believed to be stranded on boats. Malaysia has urged Burma and Bangladesh to try to halt the flow of migrants.