14 Rohingya die, dozens unaccounted for as boat sinks off Bangladesh
11 February, 2020
At least 14 persons drowned and dozens more were unaccounted for after a boat carrying Rohingya refugees sank off southern Bangladesh in early stages Tuesday (Feb 11), officials said.
Some 130 people were packed on the fishing trawler that was looking to get over the Bay of Bengal to Malaysia, coast guard spokesman Hamidul Islam told AFP. Seventy of them had so far been rescued.
A lot of the 700,000-plus Rohingya who fled a military crackdown in Myanmar in 2017 have tried to leave overcrowded refugee camps in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district on boats headed for Malaysia.
Islam said the boat was 1 of 2 vessels that was making the hazardous journey.
"We have found one capsized boat. Every one of them were mainly from the refugee camps in Cox's Bazar. We haven't found any sign of the next boat yet. We will continue our operation," Islam said.
"So far we have recovered 14 bodies and 70 people alive," coast guard commander Naim ul Haq told AFP, adding that navy and coast guard boats were searching near St Martin's island.
"These were lured by traffickers," border guard commander Faisal Hasan Khan said.
Malaysia may be the favoured destination of the Rohingya since it is a Muslim majority nation and includes a sizeable Rohingya diaspora.
With few opportunities for jobs and education in the camps, thousands have attemptedto reach other countries in Southeast Asia.
Since this past year, Bangladesh's law enforcement agencies have found over 500 Rohingya from coastal villages and boats as they waited to board boats.
At least seven suspected traffickers were shot dead in 2019 in clashes with police.
Trafficking often increases during the November-March period when the ocean is safest for the tiny fishing trawlers found in the risky trips.
The most recent wave of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar's Rakhine state joined about 300,000 who had already fled the united states to camps in Bangladesh.
Around 25,000 Rohingya left Bangladesh and Myanmar on boats in 2015 trying to get to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Hundreds drowned when overloaded boats sank.
Source:
TAG(s):