ELVIPS.COM - Malaysia's Prime Minister has ordered the country's maritime agencies to start search and rescue missions for migrants on boats out at sea.
"I have further ordered Royal Malaysian Navy and Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency to conduct search and rescue efforts for Rohingya boats. We have to prevent loss of life," Prime Minister Najib Razak posted on his official Facebook account.
Considered to be among the most persecuted people in the world, Rohingya Muslims have been fleeing Myanmar, boarding boats owned by human-smugglers with the promise of a new life in Southeast Asia.
Up to 7,000 Rohingya -- and economic migrants from Bangladesh -- are believed to be stranded on wooden boats in the Andaman Sea with little food and water.
The Malaysian search and rescue order came one day after a meeting of officials from Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur to discuss what to do about the influx of desperate people.
A spokesman for the International Organization for Migration applauded the move but said the search should have started sooner.
"It's great that governments are doing it now, and I applaud them, but this is exactly what governments should have been doing all along," said Steven Hamilton, the organization's deputy chief of mission in Indonesia.
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