122 Rohingya rescued from sinking boat off Bangladesh coast

A Rohingya family reaches the Bangladesh border after crossing a creek of the Naf river on the border with Myanmar, in Cox's Bazar's Teknaf area. File picture: Bernat Armangue/AP

A Rohingya family reaches the Bangladesh border after crossing a creek of the Naf river on the border with Myanmar, in Cox's Bazar's Teknaf area. File picture: Bernat Armangue/AP

Published Nov 15, 2019

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Dhaka - Bangladesh coast guard rescued 122

Rohingya Muslim refugees from the Bay of Bengal on Thursday as

the boat they had boarded to illegally flee to Malaysia started

sinking due to a mechanical problem, a coast guard official

said.

"Our patrol team rushed there after being informed by the

fishermen out at sea that a boat was sinking due to engine

failure," Lieutenant Commander Saiful Islam told Reuters on

Friday.

The coast guard rescued 58 women, 47 men and 17 children

from the floundering boat.

"So far this year Bangladesh police and coast guard have

prevented more than 500 Rohingya refugees from being trafficked

to Malaysia."

The refugees had risked the perilous voyage in order to seek

a better life than the overcrowded camps in Bangladesh offer.

More than 730,000 Rohingya Muslims fled to Bangladesh due to a

crackdown by Myanmar's military in 2017. Buddhist-majority

Myanmar has denied U.N. accusations that the military waged its

campaign against Rohingya with "genocidal intent.

The International Criminal Court said on Thursday it had

approved a prosecution request to investigate crimes against

humanity committed during the military campaign.

According to the United Nations refugees agency, maritime

movements of Rohingya from Bangladesh and Myanmar have resumed

after a two-year hiatus in 2016 and 2017. In most cases,

Rohingya head to Malaysia and Thailand on rickety boats arranged

by traffickers.

More than 100 000 Rohingya refugees have settled in

Muslim-majority Malaysia.

Reuters

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