The UN migration agency on Friday said that more than 60 people are either confirmed dead or missing and presumed dead following the shipwreck of a boat carrying Rohingya Muslims who were fleeing from violence in Myanmar to Bangladesh.
Spokesman Joel Millman of the International Organisation for Migration told reporters in Geneva that 23 deaths have been confirmed after eight more bodies were found overnight following an initial count of 15.
Based on interviews that IOM has conducted with survivors, Mr Millman said, “We believe 40 are missing and presumed drowned” on the vessel, which was thought to have been carrying about 80 people.
He said he didn’t have information immediately about whether it was the worst death toll at sea since the exodus of Rohingya began August 25 amid violence targeting them in Myanmar.
The “very tragic” accident involved a vessel that had been at sea for two days with no food and had faced choppy seas, Mr Millman said. The Bangladeshi captain had not initially charged the passengers any fee for the transport and had been trying to avoid sea patrols or checkpoints, he said.
“The details are absolutely astonishing and remarkable,” Mr Millman said. “At one point, he (the captain) chose to anchor the vessel, but that proved to be a fatal mistake as the rough seas were much worse than he supposed. This was easily within sight of land.”
UN chief Antonio Guterres exhorted Myanmar’s leaders to end the “nightmare” faced by Rohingya refugees.
Speaking at the UN Security Council meet, Mr Guterres urged Myanmar to halt military operations and open humanitarian access to the conflict-wracked western region. “The situation has spiralled into the world’s fastest developing refugee emergency, a humanitarian and human rights nightmare,” he said.
