14 dead, unknown number missing after Rohingya boat capsizes off Bangladesh

Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-28 21:26:50|Editor: ying
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DHAKA, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- At least 14 bodies were recovered after a boat with dozens of Rohingyas fleeing Myanmar capsized in the Bay of Bengal close to Bangladesh's southeastern Cox's Bazar district bordering Myanmar, a senior police official said Thursday.

The accident also left an unknown number of people missing, the police official said.

Afrozul Hoque Tutul, additional police superintendent of Cox's Bazar district, told Xinhua at about 6:30 p.m. local time that "14 bodies have so far been recovered."

He could not tell immediately when the boat capsized but assumed that it may have capsized sometime Thursday evening.

Law enforcers rushed to recover the bodies which were floating in the Bay of Bengal near Inani sea beach area of Cox's Bazar district, some 292 km southeast of capital Dhaka, he said.

Tutul said there is no information about how many people from the sunken boat managed to swim ashore after it capsized.

The official feared the death toll will rise, as more bodies are likely to be retrieved with search operation underway.

Sources said Rohingyas usually come in small boats which can carry 25 to 30 people.

Bodies of scores of Rohingyas were recovered earlier this month from the Naf River dividing Bangladesh and Myanmar after several boats carrying refugees fleeing Myanmar capsized.

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