LANGSA, Indonesia (AP) - More than 1,000 people fleeing persecution in Myanmar and poverty in Bangladesh came ashore Friday around Southeast Asia, describing murder, extortion and near-starvation after surviving a harrowing journey at sea.
An increasingly alarmed United Nations warned against "floating coffins" and urged regional leaders to put human lives first. The United States urged governments not to push back new boat arrivals.
The waves of weak, hungry and dehydrated migrants who arrived Friday were the latest to slip into countries that have made it clear they're not welcome. However, thousands more are still believed stranded at sea in what has become a humanitarian crisis no one in the region is rushing to solve.
Most of the migrants were crammed onto three boats that Indonesian fishermen towed ashore, while a group of 106 people were found on a Thai island known for its world-class scuba diving and brought to the mainland.
"If I had known that the boat journey would be so horrendous, I would rather have just died in Myanmar," said Manu Abudul Salam, 19, a Rohingya from Myanmar's Rakhine state where three years of attacks against the long-persecuted Muslim minority have sparked the region's largest exodus of boat people since the Vietnam War.
Manu was aboard the largest boat to come ashore Friday, a wooden vessel crammed with nearly 800 people that was towed to the Indonesian village of Langsa in eastern Aceh province.
The vessel was at sea when authorities around the region began cracking down on human trafficking two weeks ago. Aid groups and rights workers have warned the crackdown prompted some captains and smugglers to abandon their ships and leave migrants to fend for themselves - a claim that was corroborated by survivors who came ashore Friday.
Manu said she watched the captain on her ship fleeing on a speed boat several days ago after apparently receiving a call on his cell phone. Before he left, he destroyed the boat's engine, she said, and the boat began to drift.
With food and water running out, tempers flared and fighting broke out, Manu said, sobbing, saying her 20-year-old brother was among dozens killed in violent clashes between the Bangladeshis and Rohingya on board.
"They thought the captain was from our country, so they attacked us with sticks and knives," she said, sobbing. "My brother is dead." The bodies of the dead were thrown into the sea, she said.
A 19-year-old Bangladeshi survivor, Saidul Islam, also said dozens died on the ship from starvation and injuries after fighting broke out following the captain's evacuation. His voyage lasted three months, starting when a man turned up at his village and asked if anyone wanted a boat ride to Malaysia, known for better job prospects. However, once at sea, the captain demanded hundreds of dollars and made the men call their families to secure payment. There were also beatings aboard the vessel, which was stifling hot and cramped.
"We could not stand up. When we asked for water, the captain hit us with wire," he said.
Southeast Asia for years tried to quietly ignore the plight of Myanmar's 1.3 million Rohingya but is now being confronted with a dilemma that in many ways it helped create. In the last three years, more than 120,000 Rohingya have boarded ships to flee to other countries, according to the U.N. refugee agency.
No countries want them, fearing that accepting a few would result in an unstoppable flow of poor, uneducated migrants. However, Southeast Asian governments at the same time respected the wishes of Myanmar at regional gatherings, avoiding discussions of state-sponsored discrimination against the Rohingya.
Myanmar, in its first official comments as the crisis escalated in the past two weeks, indicated it won't take back migrants who claim to be Rohingya, who are denied citizenship in Myanmar and are effectively stateless.
"We cannot say that the migrants are from Myanmar unless we can identify them," said government spokesman Ye Htut. "Most victims of human trafficking claim they are from Myanmar is it is very easy and convenient for them."