20 Rohingya, including children, drown fleeing Myanmar

COX’S BAZAR: Coastguards yesterday found the bodies of 20 Rohingya, many of them children, who drowned when their boats capsized as they fled violence in Myanmar.

Officials say growing numbers of Rohingya are trying to cross the Naf river that divides the two countries in rickety boats illequipped for the rough waters as they become increasingly desperate to escape.

Around 27,400 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh to escape violence in Myanmar during the past week and a further 20,000 are marooned in no man’s land between the two countries, three United Nations sources said.

One coast guard official, who asked not to be named, said the migrants were travelling on “rickety inland fishing boats” unsuitable for the choppy seas around Bangladesh.

On Wednesday, the bodies of two Rohingya women and two children washed up in Bangladesh after their boat capsized.

Officials said two more boats capsized yesterday, killing at least 20 people, many of them children.

Photographs from the scene showed the bodies of several small children lined up on the ground, covered in sheets.

One survivor said the small, overcrowded boat he was travelling on had been tipped over by huge waves near where the Naf river opens out into the sea.

“Nobody knew how to navigate the sea waters. When huge waves tilted the boat, we panicked,” said Shah Karim.

The Naf river that divides the two countries is narrow in places, but the Rohingya are increasingly crossing where the river is wider, or even venturing out to sea, after Bangladeshi authorities intensified border patrols.