About 140 ethnic Rohingya refugees have reached the Southeast Asian country of Indonesia by crossing the sea. Wooden boats carrying a large number of these Rohingya arrived in the country's Aceh province a few days ago.

However, after reaching the coast, they are stuck there. The local residents are not allowing these Rohingyas to enter the territory. They reached there by boat from Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.

3 people died in the boat during this two week trip at sea. The news agency AP reported this information in a report on Wednesday (October 23).

About 140 weak and starving Rohingya Muslims are stuck on a wooden boat anchored about 1 mile off the coast of Indonesia's northern Aceh province, officials said. Most of these Rohingya victims are women and children and local residents are not allowing them to land.

According to AP, the blue boat has been floating on the coast since last Friday. Local police said three Rohingya have died after traveling from Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar to Labuhan Haji waters in South Aceh district for nearly two weeks.

Authorities have shifted 11 Rohingyas to government hospitals since last Sunday due to health deterioration.

"Our community is a fishing community, they don't want to let them (Rohingyas) land because of what happened in other places," said Muhammad Jabal, head of a fishing community in South Aceh. They have created unrest among local residents.”

A large banner hanging at the seaport reads: "The people of South Aceh Regency reject the arrival of Rohingya refugees in the area of ​​South Aceh Regency."

According to a report by the Aceh police, the group left Cox's Bazar on October 9 and planned to reach Malaysia. But some passengers on the boat reportedly paid to take them to other countries.

Local residents gave them food, Jabal said, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees also gave them food.

According to police, the boat had 216 people on board when it left Bangladesh and 50 of them reportedly disembarked in Indonesia's Riau province. In addition, Aceh police arrested three suspects for human trafficking.

Incidentally, Reuters reported in a report in December last year that Indonesia is not a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Convention on Refugees. But the country has a history of sheltering refugees when they arrive on its shores.

But the recent large influx of refugees has sparked a backlash on social media, and local residents in Aceh province have even sent some of the refugees back. Aceh is basically the westernmost region of Indonesia where most of the boats carrying refugees land.

In fact, the Rohingya, an ethnic minority in Myanmar, are considered one of the world's most oppressed groups. After 2017 this concept is more established.

In 2017, millions of Rohingya crossed the border and started fleeing to neighboring countries including Bangladesh.

According to Bangladesh government estimates, about 1 million Rohingya have fled Myanmar and taken refuge in Bangladesh.

Each year between November and April, when the sea calms down, members of Myanmar's persecuted minority Rohingya population cross in wooden boats to neighboring Thailand and Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia.