Trawler carrying Rohingya sinks near Bangladesh, 2 dead

By Mutasim Billah

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - A trawler carrying Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar capsized Tuesday in the Naf River on the border with Bangladesh, leaving two children dead.

“A Rohingya trawler sank while entering Bangladesh from Myanmar. There were 18 passengers on board... There are still 11 missing,” the Bangladesh daily Prothom Alo quoted Fazlul Haque, a local government official, as saying.

A local administration member who gave his name as Minuddin told Anadolu Agency that local residents informed the police about two bodies floating in the Naf River. The bodies of the Rohingya children were later recovered by police.

From Aug. 29 to Sept. 11, a total of 20 boats have capsized and 96 bodies have been recovered, 53 of them children, according to the newspaper.

Since Aug, 25, more than 370,000 Rohingya have crossed from Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine to Bangladesh, according to the UN.

The refugees are fleeing a fresh security operation in which they have said security forces and Buddhist mobs have killed men, women and children, looted homes and torched Rohingya villages.

According to the Bangladesh government, around 3,000 Rohingya have been killed in the crackdown.