The death toll from a Rohingya boat capsize is likely to top 60, the U.N. says on Friday as cited by AFP news agency. The boat capsized in River Yaumna in Bagpat district on the outskirts of New Delhi.
Death toll from a Rohingya boat capsize is likely to top 60, the UN says
— AFP news agency (@AFP)
Bangladeshi police say a trawler carrying Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar has capsized in the Bay of Bengal, and an unknown number of people have drowned.
Earlier on Wednesday, the rescuers found 14 bodies after the vessel sank in Banaripara sub-district, located nearly 110 kilometres south of the capital Dhaka. Four more bodies were found on Thursday morning.
The reason behind the accident could not be determined immediately, but an official at Barisal Port Authority said that the boat was overcrowded when it sank. The motor launch did not have route permit to ply on the river routes.
The government launched an investigation into the accident. A nine-member committee will determine the reason behind the tragedy. The committee was asked the report in seven days time.
Lax monitoring and overcrowding of ferries cause frequent accidents on river routes in deltaic Bangladesh criss-crossed by more than 300 rivers.
At least 70 people died after a double-deck ferry hit by a cargo vessel capsized in a river of central Bangladeshi district of Manikganj in February 2015.
Forty-nine people were confirmed dead and unknown number of passengers remained missing after a ferry carrying more than 200 passengers sank in Padma River in August 2014 while dozens others were killed in another accident in May of the year.
Nearly 150 people were killed in March 2012 after an overcrowded ferry carrying about 200 passengers sank in a river of central Munshiganj district when it was hit by an oil tanker in the middle of the night.
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Earlier the UN chief Antonio Guterres exhorted Myanmar’s leaders to end the “nightmare” faced by Rohingya refugees fleeing an army campaign, after at least 19 people drowned with scores more feared dead when a boat carrying Rohingya families capsized off Bangladesh.
UN chief Antonio Guterres urges Myanmar to end the “nightmare” faced by Rohingya refugees https://t.co/dgR8929axv pic.twitter.com/5WHX1fV5t5
— VOP Today ()
More than half a million Rohingya Muslims have poured into Bangladesh in the last month, fleeing a vicious Myanmar military crackdown on Rohingya rebels that has gutted villages across northern Rakhine state.