A total of 81 Rohingya are stranded on Idaman Island, Aceh

JAKARTA - A boat carrying 81 Rohingya refugees was stranded on Idaman Island, Aceh, after a journey of more than 100 days and was tossed around in the Andaman Sea due to engine failure.

The ship set sail from Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh carrying 90 Rohingya refugees, hoping to reach Malaysia.

However, the boat's engine died four days after leaving the camps hosting hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who had fled Myanmar.

"We have learned that 81 (refugees) are okay, they landed on Idaman Island in Aceh (Indonesia)", said Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, a group monitoring the Rohingya crisis.

"They are not 100 percent safe there yet. We hope they will not be turned away", he said.

Of the 90 people who set off on the voyage, eight were found dead by the Indian Coast Guard, which had tracked and then repaired the vessel in February.

Indian authorities provided the survivors with food and essential supplies but refused to let them set foot on the country's shores. Bangladesh also refused re-entry to the 81 survivors.

Over the past three months, international aid agencies and family members of those on board have repeatedly appealed to India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Malaysia for information on the fate of the survivors on board.

Authorities in Indonesia could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday.

The Rohingya are a minority group, most of whom are denied citizenship by Buddhist-majority Myanmar. Myanmar considers Rohingya illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

More than a million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar live in overcrowded camps in Bangladesh, including tens of thousands who fled after the Myanmar military launched a deadly crackdown in 2017.

Traffickers often lure Rohingya refugees, enticing them to travel on rickety boats by promising victims to work in Southeast Asian countries, such as Malaysia.