1st LD: UN chief concerned about migrants, refugees stranded in Andaman Sea, Malacca Straits

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon said Sunday that he was "increasingly concerned about the plight of migrants and refugees stranded in the Andaman Sea and Straits of Malacca."

Abandoned at sea, thousands of Bangladeshis and members of Myanmar's long-persecuted Rohingya Muslim-minority appeared Wednesday to have no place to go after two Southeast Asian countries refused to offer refuge to boatloads of hungry men, women and children.

Smugglers have fled wooden trawlers in recent days as fears grew of a massive regional crackdown on human trafficking syndicates, leaving the migrants to fend for themselves.

The United Nations pleaded for countries in the region to keep their borders open and help rescue those stranded, while some parliamentarians slammed the "not-in-my-backyard" attitude.

In recent days, the secretary-general has spoken to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan- ocha, Ban's spokesman said in a statement.

The UN deputy secretary-general, Jan Eliasson, has also spoken to the foreign minister of Bangladesh, Abul Hasan Mahmood Ali, and the deputy minister for multilateral affairs of Indonesia, Hasan Kleib, the statement said. Endite