"Authorities in Malaysia and Thailand have recovered at least 21 bodies as they search for survivors after a boat carrying Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar sank, police and maritime officials said on Monday. Officials said the boat was carrying about 70 migrants when it capsized near Thailand's Ko Tarutao island, just north of Malaysia's Langkawi Island, three days after departing from Myanmar's Rakhine state."
"They were believed to have been part of a larger group of some 300 people who were split between at least two boats, police said. Tarutao is just north of Malaysia's island resort of Langkawi, where officials said search-and-rescue operations were being concentrated. Thirteen survivors have been rescued in Malaysian waters since Saturday, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) told reporters on Monday."
"Search-and-rescue operations were expected to last for seven days, Romli Mustafa, MMEA director in the northern states of Kedah and Perlis, told reporters on Monday evening. Hundreds of Rohingya people boarded a vessel bound for Malaysia two weeks ago and were transferred onto two boats on Thursday, Malaysian authorities said. One boat carrying 70 people sank shortly afterwards, while the fate of about 230 people on board the other vessel remains unclear, officials said."
A boat carrying about 70 Rohingya migrants capsized near Thailand's Ko Tarutao island three days after departing Myanmar's Rakhine state. Authorities in Malaysia and Thailand recovered at least 21 bodies and rescued 13 survivors in Malaysian waters. The passengers were believed to be part of a larger group of roughly 300 people split between at least two boats, with about 230 people on the other vessel unaccounted for. Search-and-rescue operations are concentrated near Langkawi and were expected to last seven days. More than 5,100 Rohingya boarded boats this year, with nearly 600 reported dead or missing, per UN data.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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