Nearly 250 people, including children, were feared missing after a boat carrying Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals capsized in the Andaman Sea, the United Nations (UN) said on Tuesday, AFP reported.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in a statement, said, “The trawler, which departed from Teknaf in southern Bangladesh and was on its way to Malaysia, reportedly sank due to heavy winds, rough seas, and overcrowding.
Every year, thousands of Rohingyas, Myanmar’s persecuted Muslim minority, risk their lives as they flee repression and civil war in their country. These refugees travel by sea, often in makeshift boats.
According to the report, Rohingyas aboard this latest boat were likely fleeing huge camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazaar, where over a million refugees, who are forced to leave Myanmar’s Rakhine, live in squalid conditions.
While the exact circumstances regarding the latest incident are unclear, preliminary information indicated that the vessel was carrying roughly 280 people and left Bangladesh on April 4.
The Bangladesh Coast Guard (BCG) noted that on April 9, one of its ships, which was on its way to Indonesia, managed to rescue as many as nine people from the sea, including a woman.
Speaking to AFP, BCG spokesman Lieutenant Commander Sabbir Alam Sujan said, “The Bangladeshi flag carrier M.T. Meghna Pride… spotted several people floating in the sea using drums and logs and rescued them from deep waters near the Andaman Islands.”
This is a developing story. More details awaited.
