At least 250 people, including Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals, were missing after a boat capsized in the Andaman Sea on the way to Malaysia, the UN’s refugee and migration agencies said.
While details remained sketchy, Bangladeshi Coast Guard spokesman Sabbir Alam Suzan yesterday said that nine people, including three Rohingya and six Bangladeshis, were rescued on Thursday last week.
The Bangladesh flag carrier M.T. Meghna Pride rescued the nine people when the crew found them floating at sea after the capsize, Suzan said.
Photo: AP
When the boat sank and the status of any search were unclear yesterday.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in a joint statement on Tuesday said that the trawler departed from Teknaf in the southern Bangladeshi district of Cox’s Bazar carrying many passengers to Malaysia.
Overcrowding, strong winds and rough seas caused the vessel to lose control and sink, the agencies said.
Shari Nijman, a UNCHR communications officer in Cox’s Bazar, yesterday said that the agency had no other updates.
Another Bangladeshi Coast Guard media official yesterday said that the rescued people, eight men and one woman, were safe after being handed over to the coast guard, who took them to the police in Teknaf.
The official said that the rescue was not part of any official search operation as it is outside Bangladeshi territory, and that the crew of the M.T. Meghna Pride saved the people while it was on its way to Indonesia from Bangladesh’s Chittagong.
The official spoke by telephone on condition of anonymity in line with official policy.
UNHCR and IOM said that the disappearance reflected the protracted displacement of Rohingya people and the absence of durable solutions.
Ongoing violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state has made the Rohingya’s safe return to Myanmar uncertain, while limited humanitarian assistance, as well as restricted access to education and employment in refugee camps, continue to push vulnerable Rohingya refugees to choose risky sea journeys, often based on false promises of higher wages and better opportunities abroad, the two agencies said.
The UNHCR and IOM urged the international community to bolster funding and solidarity to ensure lifesaving assistance for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, which has sheltered more than 1 million Rohingya from Myanmar.
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