26 died at sea. Rohingya Muslims tell stories of hunger and suffering while fleeing to Indonesia

Rohingya Muslims who survived a 40-day ordeal on a boat across the Indian Ocean to end up in Indonesia told stories of hunger and despair, and said more than 20 of those on board had died on the way.

A boat washed ashore on Sumatra island in Indonesia's Aceh province on Monday with 174 Rohingya on board, officials with the Indonesian National Disaster Management Council said, most of them dehydrated, exhausted and in desperate need of urgent medical care after weeks at sea.

Shafiq Rahman - one of the survivors - said that 200 sailed on a small boat from Bangladesh in an attempt to reach Muslim-majority Indonesia, and 26 of them died at sea.

"We sailed for 40 days, and the food supply dwindled after 10 days, and soon the rickety boat leaked," Rahman said.

"We arrived at this place safe and sound, thanks to God," he said, while he was in a temporary shelter in Bedi district, where dozens of them received urgent medical care, while a woman was seen ventilating sleeping children with a piece of cardboard.

The Rohingya are a Muslim people from Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where they have long suffered from oppression. About 800,000 have fled to Bangladesh since 2017, while thousands have fled to further destinations in Southeast Asia.

Shafiq said he and others came to Indonesia to search for a better life and an opportunity to study.

Another survivor, Samosa Katun, said she came to Indonesia to escape destitution and find a job.

The incident is the latest in a series of boat arrivals and rescues around the region in the past few weeks, as the Rohingya flee grinding conditions in refugee camps in Bangladesh and growing persecution in Myanmar.

A boat with 180 people on board is believed to have sank in early December, with all those on board presumed dead, according to rights groups.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said on Monday that 2022 could be the deadliest year at sea in nearly a decade for the Rohingya.

Indonesia has seen nearly 500 Rohingyas reach its shores in the past six weeks, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The security ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that the government was working with the International Organization for Migration and UNHCR to move the Rohingya to shelters in nearby towns.