MYANMAR: Rohingya crisis: Boat capsizes, leaving 14 dead

At least 14 Rohingya people – all women and children – have drowned after their boat capsized off the coast of Bangladesh, police say. Survivors say the boat overturned after apparently hitting a submerged object near the coastal city of Cox’s Bazar. Police said that 40 people were on board the vessel. In the past […]

At least 14 Rohingya people – all women and children – have drowned after their boat capsized off the coast of Bangladesh, police say.

Survivors say the boat overturned after apparently hitting a submerged object near the coastal city of Cox’s Bazar.

Police said that 40 people were on board the vessel.

In the past 48 hours, about 2,000 Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh by boat, fleeing violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

Witnesses said that the boat capsized just metres from the coast.

“They drowned before our eyes,” Mohammad Sohel, a shopkeeper, was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

“Minutes later, the waves washed the bodies to the beach,” he said.

Nine of the victims were children and the others women, police official Chailaw Marma said.