Malaysian authorities on Tuesday said they would allow entry to 56 Rohingya Muslims who reached the country in a boat on Monday after fleeing violence in Myanmar.

Malaysian maritime authorities intercepted the boat near the north-western island of Langkawi, Navy chief Ahmad Kamarulzaman Ahmad Badaruddin said. “We have provided them with water, food and other humanitarian assistance,” he told Reuters.

“All 56 passengers, mostly children and women, are safe but tired and hungry,” Badaruddin said. “The boat and its passengers will be handed over to the immigration authorities.”

Maritime Enforcement Agency Director General Zulkifili Abu Bakar said the refugees would be allowed to enter the country on humanitarian grounds.

Nearly seven lakh Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state after a militant attack in August 2017 resulted in a violent crackdown by security forces. World leaders and international organisations such as the United Nations have repeatedly referred to the violence as ethnic cleansing.

The boat had stopped at a Thai island to restock itself on Saturday. The Thailand police said it was the first boat spotted off the country’s coast in over a year.

After authorities in Thailand cracked down on regional trafficking networks in 2015, very few Rohingyas have tried to travel towards the region by boat. This left thousands of migrants abandoned in open waters, AFP reported.

Most Rohingya Muslim refugees have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh. The boat that reached Malaysia sparked fears that refugee camps in Bangladesh are overcrowded and may force people to undertake dangerous sea voyages.