Scenes that break hearts of stone

Geulumpang

Fisherman Muchtar Ali broke down in tears when he set eyes on the overcrowded boat carrying desperate, starving Rohingya off the coast of Indonesia before going to the rescue of a vessel that has become emblematic of Asia's human-trafficking crisis.

"I was speechless," Ali said, recalling the moment he saw the boatload of more than 400 Muslim migrants who are fleeing persecution in their native Myanmar, which is predominantly Buddhist. "Looking at these people, me and my friends cried because they looked so hungry, so skinny."

The fisherman from staunchly Islamic Aceh province, where there has been an outpouring of sympathy as Rohingya and Bangladeshis have come ashore in recent days, said that he also felt compelled to help due to their shared religion.

"We must help fellow Muslims, how can we not help destitute people like this? It would be a big sin," he said.

The wooden green boat had drawn global attention after harrowing scenes emerged of the migrants pleading for help off Thailand last week. They were rescued by fishermen early yesterday and brought to shore, and journalists boarded the vessel soon afterwards and confirmed it was the same boat.

For the migrants, who had not been heard from for over three days, the rescue marked the end of a harrowing, four-month journey. 

The Rohingya, who included 140 women and children, were "totally exhausted" after being repeatedly towed out of Thai waters and then forced at gunpoint to leave Malaysian waters, said Chris Lewa, whose Arakan Project monitors migrant journeys across the Bay of Bengal.

"The worst were the Malaysians who pushed them out twice. They said the second time the Malaysians came with guns and said they’d shoot at the boat if they came back again," said Lewa, whose researchers had talked to two of the migrants. 

It is the latest grim tale to emerge from the region's migrant crisis, which has seen thousands of Rohingya and Bangladeshis arrive in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia in recent days after being abandoned after a Thai crackdown disrupted people-smuggling and -trafficking routes.

As migrants have made it to shore, often malnourished after months at sea, they have recounted tales of being abused by smugglers and of deadly fights breaking out between rival groups armed with axes and knives