A boat carrying over 100 Rohingya refugees and a fishing vessel attempting to rescue them capsized in waters off Indonesia on Wednesday (20 March).
Among them, six were rescued, while some were swept away by currents, AFP reported citing local fishermen.
"We received a report from fishermen in West Aceh that a boat carrying Rohingya refugees capsized in the sea near Meulaboh. A fisherman saw the Rohingyas at 8:00 am (0100 GMT) with their boat sinking," Nanda Ferdiansyah from West Aceh traditional fishing community told AFP.
"As soon as the fisherman's boat approached them, they all got on the boat. As soon as they got onboard, the fisherman's boat also sank because of overcapacity."
The Rohingya boat had capsized off Kuala Bubon beach in West Aceh, the regency's fishing community secretary-general Pawang Amiruddin said in a statement.
"The report from local fishermen said a Rohingya boat capsized and they saved themselves by getting onto the hull of the overturned boat. Some other people were carried away by the strong currents," the statement said.
"So far six people have been rescued by the local fisherman, four women and two men."
The local search and rescue agency said the Rohingya boat was spotted capsized 16 nautical miles (30 kilometres) off the coast.
Amiruddin told AFP by phone that survivors estimated there were "around 150 people on the boat... but we don't know for sure" with only half a dozen confirmed to have made it to land.
The refugees said they were from Myanmar and had tried to reach Thailand but turned to Indonesia's western Aceh province after being rejected, Amiruddin said.
The reports stated that a rescue team departed from the provincial capital Banda Aceh by boat on Wednesday evening and would reach the area of the capsizings at 12:45 am Thursday (1745 GMT Wednesday).
