Deported children die of dehydration

Three Filipino children who left Malaysia along with their families recently died during the sea voyage back to the Philippines, officials said.

Cdr. Cirilo Ortiz, commanding officer of the coast-guard detachment in Bongao town in the Philippines' south-eastern Tawi-Tawi province, reported that three still unidentified children, aged three, died due to dehydration after drinking sea water during the trip.

The fatalities were among 100 Filipinos who arrived in Tawi-Tawi recently from Malaysia where a government crackdown on illegal immigrants is going on.

It is as yet unclear whether the recently arrived Filipinos, who comprise mostly Muslims from southern Philippines, were deported by Malaysian authorities or fled the country on their own.
Fishing boats

The 100 overstaying Filipinos who were aboard several fishing boats in Tawi-Tawi, left Malaysia on August 6. They reached Tawi-Tawi's Sapa-Sapa town after spending a week at sea.

From Sapa-Sapa, they were shipped to Bongao, where they are now awaiting transportation to Zamboanga City, the coast-guard said.

Reports said the children were forced to drink sea water due to lack of drinking water during their voyage.

Others deported were sick and malnourished from the hardships they suffered.

The coast-guard has sought assistance from the departments of social welfare and food and medicine as the number of those deported is expected to swell in the coming weeks.

The Malaysian government recently announced that it was going to deport thousands of Filipino settlers in that country.