More than 500 people are feared to have died in two boat sinkings off the coast of Myanmar in late June. The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) and its refugee agency, UNHCR, expressed concern over this in a joint statement.
The statement said the two vessels had set out from Myanmar’s Rakhine State in late June. Most of those aboard were members of the country’s Muslim minority, the Rohingya. Some of them had also set out from refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
According to the UN statement, one boat carrying about 250 passengers lost contact shortly after setting out to sea. Another boat, which set off with about 280 passengers, is believed to have sunk off Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady coast on 8 July.
The statement said these sinkings and the number of casualties had not yet been officially confirmed. But the IOM and UNHCR expressed deep concern at the possible scale of this loss of life.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report