Chittagaon, Bangladesh: Thai authorities have detained a third group of Rohingyas from Western Burma off Phuket in southern Thailand, according to a member of a Rohingya watchdog group in Thailand.

Sixty-eight Rohingyas came ashore on Phuket on February 1 and were being held by Thai police and immigration officials, the member said.

“All the voyagers are under the age of 30 except one. Among them, the youngest is 12 years old.”

The Rohingyas had been without food for 10 days before reaching Phuket, according to a report from the online news group Phuketwan.

“Different groups had gone in different directions after walking ashore in darkness off Laem Ka bech, a quiet cove alongside the luxury five-star Evason Six Senses Resort in Rawai, a southern village on Phuket,” the Phuketwan reported.

“Some wandered the nearby main street, Viset Road, while others looked for food in groups of five or six. A second group of 33 was found later in the day, hiding in a five-star villa construction site opposite the Rawai municipal offices,” the Phuketwan report said.

“While the Rohingya stand out from Phuket's usual Buddhist and Muslim population because of their distinctive wraps, the men spent some time on Phuket yesterday before coming to the attention of local police or authorities,” the report said.

“The men were being processed in two groups yesterday at Chalong Police Station and at Immigration HQ in Phuket City. The first group was taken to Immigration and the second group to Chalong Police Station. Officers were asking them to write down their names. The men and boys were being held in two cells at the police station,” the report said.

''We did not know where we were when we swam from the boat,” Rohingya Abdul Salam was quoted as saying by Phuketwan.

''We have had no food for 10 days, just water. The journey from Burma took longer than we thought it would. We shared our money to buy the boat, and we were at sea for about a month before our group decided to come ashore.''

The boatload of Rohingya is the third to come ashore within the last week. The 91 men on the first boat that landed south of Phuket in Trang province on January 22 have been taken to Ranong, the border port between Thailand and Burma, where they are being held in the Immigration detention center.

The 67 men who arrived the following day were to be taken to Ranong but have now been diverted because of lack of space to be held in detention in Songkhla, a southern city.

Human rights groups have expressed concern over the plight of the Rohingya boat voyagers already being detained by authorities.

Thailand should immediately allow the United Nations refugee agency unhindered access to 211 detained ethnic Rohingya asylum seekers to determine whether they qualify for refugee status, Human Rights Watch said today.

A group of 158 Rohingyas from Burma arrived in Thailand on January 22 and 23, 2011, after a perilous sea voyage in rickety, overcrowded boats. They joined 53 others detained since 2009 in the Thai immigration detention system. The Thai authorities have repeatedly refused to give the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) access to the detainees, HRW stated.

"The persecution of Rohingyas in Burma is atrocious, but the Thai government continues to pretend that they are no different from any other undocumented migrant," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Thailand should reverse course and immediately allow UNHCR to interview all detained Rohingya to identify those seeking refugee status."

"Thailand's response to the Rohingya contrasts sharply with Malaysia's, where the authorities allowed UNHCR to visit and assess the cases of 93 detained Rohingya whose boat was intercepted in March 2010. UNHCR concluded that all were refugees. The Malaysian authorities released them from immigration detention,” Adams said.

"As a new member of the UN Human Rights Council, Thailand should be spearheading regional efforts to protect refugees rather than detaining them," Adams said. "If Malaysia can comply with international refugee protection standards, why can't Thailand?"

Human Rights Watch noted that in previous years, some boats landing in Thailand have carried both Rohingya and Bangladeshi nationals pretending to be Rohingya. Effective UNHCR screening would help the Thai authorities separate genuine refugee claims by Rohingya from other claims.

"The Thai government should take advantage of the expertise of UNHCR, which has repeatedly told the authorities it is ready to help screen Rohingya asylum seekers," Adams said. "By doing so, Thailand can put itself in a strong position with its international partners to seek a longer term, sustainable solution for the Rohingya that starts with ensuring their rights are protected inside Burma."

Meanwhile, a boat from Bangladesh with more than 50 voyagers and led by a man identified as Bodi Alam, departed for Malaysia yesterday evening from Cox’s Bazar, carrying both Burmese and Bangladeshis, according to a source in northern Arakan.