Myanmar: Boat sinks in Bay of Bengal, 23 Rohingyas die
Rescuers have found the bodies of 23 Rohingyas who were fleeing Myanmar’s Rakhine State, media reports said on Friday.
According to reports, they died after their boat sank.
Thirty people are still missing while eight have reportedly survived the tragedy.
The survivors said they were trying to reach Malaysia when their boat carrying more than 50 passengers foundered and was abandoned by its crew on Sunday, BBC reported.
Rohingyas try to escape to countries like Indonesia and Malaysia every year by braving rough seas.
They are escaping persecution in Myanmar and overcrowded refugee camps in Bangladesh. Those who died this week include 13 women 10 men, all Rohingya Muslims, a rescue team told BBC.
Rohingyas are people who predominantly follow Islam and reside in Rakhine State, Myanmar.
Before the Rohingya genocide in 2017, when over 740,000 fled to Bangladesh, an estimated 1.4 million Rohingya lived in Myanmar.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.