The movement of 'boat people' in search of jobs in distant lands, being stranded on the high seas is a regular occurrence involving people of South Asia.

A recent report said Malaysia was the conduit point for South and Southeast Asians travelling illegally to Singapore and Australia.

According to the newspaper, officials of the foreign and home ministries said that between December 2008 and January 2009, the Indian Coast Guard rescued at least 300 people from near-death from a sinking engine-less boat.

'They were forced aboard and set adrift with scanty amount of food and drink allegedly by Thai law enforcers after they made an abortive attempt to go to Malaysia in search of jobs.

Indian officials then claimed those people were from Bangladesh and Myanmar.

'Apart from those rescued people, India also included another 49 people and sent a list of 349 people to Dhaka with a request to take back all those,' said an official in Dhaka.

India repeated its request when the top brass of the border guards, Border Security force (BSF) and the Bangladesh rifles (BDR), met for their bi-annual interaction last week.