At least 23 dead as boat carrying Rohingya refugees capsized in Bay of Bengal

COX’S BAZAR: At least 23 individuals lost their lives after a boat carrying Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar capsized in the Bay of Bengal, leaving 30 missing.

According to the international media, the local humanitarian workers have reported that a mere eight survivors managed to overcome the ordeal.

The reports said that the vessel carrying over 50 passengers, embarked on a journey towards Malaysia a sought-after sanctuary for countless Rohingya Muslims in search of refuge from persecution and destitution in Myanmar and Bangladesh.

The casualties included 13 women, as reported by BBC Burmese.

According to the survivors, the boat succumbed to a powerful wave near Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state.

“We began recovering bodies from August 7 onwards,” stated Min Htal Wah, chairperson of the Shwe Yaung Metta Foundation, a rescue organisation operating in Myanmar’s coastal Rakhine region.

Wah further said that within three days, they retrieved 17 bodies, while some fortunate souls were rescued alive.

Meanwhile, a Rohingya aid worker in Maungdaw township said that the ill-fated voyage set sail amidst adverse weather conditions, and approximately 500 others were still harboring aspirations of crossing to Malaysia.

As per the media reports, the Rescue teams continued their relentless efforts to locate those who were missing. However, the exact count of passengers aboard remained uncertain.

According to Independent, every year, thousands of Rohingya refugees embark on sea voyages in fragile boats, driven by the aspiration to find refuge in muslim-majority Malaysia. However, numerous individuals ended up in Indonesia along the way.

The media reports said that the tragic incident came in the backdrop of a larger crisis that unfolded in 2017, when nearly 1 million muslim Rohingyas fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar amid a series of violent episodes triggered by clashes with a rebel faction.

The majority of these refugees resided in overburdened camps in Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, the UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, revealed that 2022 witnessed over 3,500 Rohingya attempting perilous crossings of the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal. It said that at least 348 Rohingya lost their lives or went missing at sea in the previous year.