Rohingya boat capsizes in Bay of Bengal; at least 16 dead
Posted Feb 10, 2020 10:58 pm.
DHAKA, Bangladesh — An overcrowded boat carrying about 125 Rohingya refugees from Bangladeshi camps has sunk off St. Martin’s Island in the Bay of Bengal, leaving at least 16 refugees dead, a Bangladeshi official said Tuesday.
Noor Ahmed, the top elected official on the island, told The Associated Press by phone from the scene that the coast guard and other rescuers recovered the bodies of 14 women, one child and a man after the wooden boat capsized early Tuesday.
More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh from neighbouring Myanmar to flee a harsh crackdown by Myanmar’s military since August 2017.
Associated Press, The Associated Press
