Navy chief rejects Rohingya accusations

The navy has rejected foreign media reports that sailors beat about 100 Rohingya asylum seekers and set them adrift in a simple boat in the Andaman sea.

Navy chief Khamthon Phumhiran dismissed a report on the BBC news service in which the Rohingyas accused the navy of towing them out to sea in boats with no engines and no food.

The report said the comments came from survivors who managed to drift to Indonesia and the Andaman islands.

On Thursday, the South China Morning Post ran a front-page story saying dozens of refugees were detained and beaten on an Andaman island in full view of foreign holidaymakers. It was unclear when the incident took place.

Adm Khamthon refused to accept the reports. He insisted the minority Burmese Rohingyas were not set adrift.

Under no circumstances, he stressed, would the navy do anything so inhumane. Even in a state of war and enemy fighters were seen drifting in the sea, the navy would rescue them in keeping with humanitarian principles.

A picture on the BBC website shows scores of Rohingyas lying face down on a beach on Koh Sai Daeng island off Ranong province.

Adm Khamthon said the picture gave the wrong impression. The asylum seekers were made to lie down on the sand as a precaution to prevent them causing harm to security personnel who were outnumbered. There were about 20 navy personnel at the scene.

He said the asylum seekers were later given shelter, food and water. ''But these pictures obviously did not come up in the media coverage,'' he said.