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At least 17 Rohingyas had been killed and 30 stay lacking after a ship capsized in unhealthy climate within the Bay of Bengal earlier this week, assist staff in Myanmar stated.
According to volunteers, eight individuals had been rescued from the boat, which was headed for Malaysia, a coveted vacation spot for hundreds of Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution and poverty in Myanmar and Bangladesh.
It was unclear from the place the boat had set off.
“We found dead bodies starting from August 7,” stated Min Htal Wah, chairperson of Shwe Yaung Metta Foundation, a rescue organisation primarily based within the coastal Rakhine area of Myanmar.
“Within three days, we found 17 dead bodies…We found some people alive,” he stated, including 10 girls had been among the many lifeless.
A Rohingya assist employee in Maungdaw township on the border with Bangladesh stated the boat had departed in unhealthy climate and that about 500 others had been nonetheless hoping to cross to Malaysia.
Nearly 1 million Rohingya dwell in crowded situations in Bangladesh, amongst them those that fled a lethal crackdown in 2017 by Myanmar’s army, which denies committing crimes towards humanity.
An untold variety of them have died at sea from illness, starvation and fatigue as they try to succeed in Malaysia and Indonesia in rickety boats.