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Independent topical source of current affairs, opinion and issues, featuring stories making news in Canada from immigrants, newcomers, minorities & ethnic communities' point of view and interests.

Friday Afternoon: Sighting Land and Refugee Vessel

friday afternoon: Several required medical attention for dehydration and exhaustion, local authorities said, according to The Chronicle Herald. Fariq Muhammad said he paid the equivalent of about 150 for a place on the boat that left from Myanmar's Rakhine state, where a violent military crackdown on Rohingya has sparked an exodus of some 700,000 refugees over land into neighbouring Bangladesh since August. The eight children, 25 women and 43 men were brought ashore on Friday afternoon at Bireuen in Aceh province on the island of Sumatra, the third known attempt by members of the ethnic minority to escape Myanmar by sea this month. The refugee vessel was intercepted by a Thai navy frigate and later escorted by a Thai patrol vessel until sighting land, said Fariq. We were forced to leave because we could not stay, could not work, so our lives became difficult in Myanmar. The group believed the Thais understood they wanted to reach Malaysia and were dismayed when they realized they were in Indonesia, said Fariq, who gave the identification numbers of the Thai vessels. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.