Three Cambodian migrant workers were repatriated from Indonesia on Wednesday after being rescued from a fishing boat at Balawan port in Sumatra’s Medan province earlier this year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced.
Indonesian authorities found the workers at about the same time as 18 other migrant fishermen in Indonesia’s Riau Islands.
“After conducting an investigation, Indonesian authorities identified the men as victims of human trafficking and released them at the request of the Cambodian Embassy,” the ministry said in a statement.
Ministry spokesman Chum Sounry said Indonesian authorities initially found two of the fishermen on the boat last month, but later discovered a third worker.
Mr. Sounry said the Cambodian Embassy in Indonesia worked with the International Organization for Migration to process the repatriations.
“Our team will be…directly assisting the three men with medical checks, temporary accommodation for one to two days, and then providing them onward transport back to their families,” the group’s regional spokesman Joe Lowry said in an email on Wednesday.
