AhlulBayt News Agency

source : Press TV
Tuesday

14 May 2013

7:30:00 PM
419612

Rescuers search for Rohingya Muslims after boat accident

Rescuers have been searching for dozens of Rohingya Muslims who went missing in waters after their boat capsized off western Myanmar.

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The boat, which was carrying over 100 people, sank off Pauktaw Township in Rakhine State late on Monday after hitting rocks in a coastal waterway.

The United Nations said that eight bodies have been recovered and 42 others rescued.

Reports also added that 50 people were still missing and feared dead.

The Rohingyas were trying to flee Cyclone Mahasen, which is expected to hit the area on Thursday and Friday. India and Bangladesh are also at risk.

In 2008, Cyclone Nargis killed more than 13,000 people in Myanmar.

Cyclone Sidr claimed in 2007 the lives of 3,500 people in Bangladesh and destroyed thousands of homes.

The UN has begun the evacuation of Rohingyas living in some areas of Rakhine State such as Pauktaw.

Nearly 20,000 Rohingyas were taking shelter in makeshift camps in Pauktaw, according to UN data.

About 800,000 Rohingyas in the western state of Rakhine are deprived of citizenship rights due to the policy of discrimination that has denied them the right of citizenship and made them vulnerable to acts of violence and persecution, expulsion, and displacement.

Rohingya Muslims have faced torture, neglect, and repression in Myanmar for many years.

Hundreds of Rohingyas are believed to have been killed and thousands of others displaced in recent attacks by extremist Buddhists.

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