They said 20 others had perished as they drifted at sea for three weeks in a wooden boat held together with rope but with no engine.

Fishermen found them huddled in the boat off Indonesia's Sumatra island on Monday afternoon, navy officer Tedi Sutardi told AFP.

The migrants, from Myanmar's minority Muslim Rohingya community, said they had been cast adrift by Thai security forces as they tried to flee persecution in Myanmar.

They showed scars from beatings they said they had received at the hands of the Thais, matching similar allegations from another group of 174 Rohingya who were found off Sumatra on January 7.

"Fishermen found a wooden boat without an engine drifting in the sea with 198 Myanmar migrants. They said Thai authorities towed them out to sea and set them adrift," Sutardi said.

"Their boat was small. It's only 12 metres (40 feet) long and three metres wide... It had almost come apart and was held together with ropes.

"They were drifting for about 21 days. Most of them are in critical condition and are receiving treatment at a local state hospital in East Aceh district."

Using limited Malay, the Bengali-speaking migrants said they had left their homes in Myanmar's western Arakan state because they were being forced to embrace Buddhism, according to the Indonesian officer.

They said the military authorities in the mainly Buddhist country chopped their fingers off if they tried to pray.

"Some men were beaten and they were very thin. I saw the scars on their bodies," Sutardi said.

"They fled their country as they were tortured for not embracing Buddhism. They said Muslims who prayed had their fingers cut off in their country."

Myanmar's military rulers effectively deny citizenship rights to the Rohingya, leading to discrimination and abuse and contributing to a regional humanitarian crisis as hundreds try to flee the country by boat every year.

Media reports and a local human rights group have said nearly 1,000 of the Rohingya landed on Thai shores late last year, before being towed out to sea and left with few supplies in separate groups in mid and late December.

Sutardi said the migrants found Monday had confirmed those reports, putting their number at 1,200.

Until Monday only about 650 had been found in Indonesian and Indian waters, all telling the same stories of abuse by the Myanmar and Thai authorities.

Indian authorities and rights activists said in January that hundreds more of the boat people were feared to still be missing at sea.

Bangkok denies the allegations of abuse, saying that all the migrants were processed humanely.

Buddhist Thailand is facing a Muslim rebellion in its southern provinces, while its western border with Myanmar is already dotted with refugee camps full of people from persecuted Myanmar ethnic minorities.

Indonesia and Thailand treat the Rohingya as economic migrants despite pressure from the United Nations refugee agency and independent rights groups to grant them fair and transparent asylum hearings.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, has said the 174 Rohingya migrants found on January 7 probably will be repatriated to Myanmar despite their fears of persecution if they are forced to return.

The foreign ministry spokesman in Jakarta was not available to comment on the latest arrivals.

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