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United States calls for urgent action on south-east Asian migrant crisis

The US has said that the world needs to act on the migrant crisis enveloping south-east Asia.

Thousand of migrants are thought to be adrift, despite around 2,000 landing in the Indonesia and Malaysia. Thailand has turned several boats away.

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Indonesia rescues 700 migrants adrift at sea

Around 700 migrants have been rescued after being left to drift in south-east Asian seas Credit: Reuters

More than 700 migrants who were stranded on a boat in south-east Asian seas after being turned away by Thailand and Malaysia have been rescued.

The migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh were brought ashore to the east coast of Aceh on Indonesia's island of Sumatra this morning, a search and rescue official said.

"The latest information we have is about 794 people were found in the middle of the sea and brought ashore by fishermen at 5am," Khairul Nova, the official in the town of Langsa in Aceh, said.

"They are now in a warehouse by the port as a temporary arrangement," Nova added.

Thousands of migrants are stranded on similar boats in Southeast Asian seas as governments in the region seek to prevent them from landing, despite a UN request to rescue them.

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