Jakarta  - Thailand will work with the UN refugee agency and neighbouring countries to help Myanmar's Rohingya boat people, Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said Wednesday.

The Thai military has been accused of mistreating migrants belonging to the Rohingya minority group, who said they were fleeing persecution in Myanmar, by towing more than 10 vessels out to sea and leaving the refugees in engineless boats without sufficient food and water.

Almost 400 of the Rohingya migrants were rescued by the Indonesian Navy off the coast of Aceh province in January and earlier this month.

The Rohingya told Indonesian officials they had been physically abused by Thai authorities before being abandoned at sea.

Kasit insisted that the Rohingyas were economic migrants but Thailand would involve the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in efforts to find a solution.

"We will offer whatever humanitarian assistance and work with fellow regional countries and UNHCR to solve the problem at the source," Kasit told reporters after meeting his Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirajuda in Jakarta.

Kasit said he and Hassan agreed that a regional meeting should be held as soon as possible to discuss the Rohingya boat people.

He said the Thai government and the country's human rights commission were investigating the allegations of mistreatment.

Of the 1,000 estimated Rohingya allegedly pushed back to sea from southern Thailand, hundreds are still missing and feared drowned.

The Rohingya are a stateless people. Although many originate from Arakan state in northern Myanmar, the country's military junta has refused them citizenship, claiming they are the recent offspring of Arab traders and Bangladeshis and don't qualify as an ethnic minority group.

In the early 1990s, an estimated 250,000 Rohingyas fled government crackdowns to Bangladesh, where they continue to languish in refugee camps.

Indonesia said last week it would allow the UNHCR to verify the Rohingya's refugee status, which could qualify them for resettlement in third countries. (dpa)