Authorities said that a boat carrying Rohingya migrants sunk on Tuesday owing to heavy weather, and that at least three individuals have drowned and 20 others are missing off the coast of Bangladesh.
Each year, hundreds of refugees pay smugglers to transport them out of Bangladesh because of the difficult living conditions in the country’s refugee camps.
The fishing boat departed at first light and was headed for Malaysia when it ran into trouble in the Bay of Bengal, prompting two coastguard boats to race there to look for survivors.
In the coastal village of Haleponia, at least three bodies, according to the police, have washed up.
“The bodies have been found by us. Three young Rohingya women, between the ages of 18 and 20, are their owners “Noor Muhammad, a police inspector, according to AFP.
The boat was carrying roughly 65 people, according to Ashiq Ahmed, the commander of the Coast Guard Center, after it stopped in several coastal communities before setting off.
He told AFP, “We have saved 45 persons, including 41 Rohingya refugees and 4 Bangladeshis.
“There are still about 20 persons missing. There is still a search, “Added he.
Off the coast of Cox’s Bazar, close to the location of vast camps sheltering nearly a million Rohingya migrants, the boat sank.
Around 750,000 Muslims from the Rohingya ethnic group escaped a brutal army offensive in Burma in 2017 and made their way to Bangladesh, where more than 100,000 Rohingya had been uprooted during earlier rounds of violence.
A boat transporting Rohingya refugees capsizes off the coast of Bangladesh, leaving many people dead.
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