14 killed as Rohingya boat capsizes off Bangladesh

Dhaka Sep 28 (IANS) At least 14 people were killed on Thursday when a boat with dozens of Rohingyas fleeing Myanmar capsized in the Bay of Bengal close to Bangladesh s Cox s Bazar district the police said.

Afrozul Hoque Tutul Additional Superintendent of Police of Cox s Bazar district told Xinhua news agency in the evening that 14 bodies had been recovered.

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

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

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

The official said the death toll was likely to rise as search operation for the missing was underway.

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.

--IANS
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