At Least 26 Rohingya Muslims Fleeing Violence In Myanmar Die In Boat Capsize

At least 26 Rohingya Muslims fleeing including 15 children and 11 women were killed after three boats carrying them capsized in Naf River at Teknaf in Bangladesh's Cox¡¯s Bazar on Friday.

Reuters

The death toll in the accident is likely to rise as the number of occupants on the boats is still unclear. Bangladeshi authorities said the occupants on the boat were Rohingyas, an ethnic minority in Myanmar's Rakhine province.

AP

Hundreds of Rohingyas have been fleeing their homes in the past couple of days after an alleged crackdown by the Myanmar Army. The army action came after a Rohingya armed group called Arakan Salvation Army attacked police posts, killing over a dozen members of the security forces.

Following the army crackdown, according to activists over a 100 people have been killed by the security forces and Buddhist vigilante groups.

AP

Some 2,000 Rohingyas have fled the country since, seeking refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh. Even though Bangladesh had initially accepted a few of them, the country has now turned them away, leaving the Rohingyas in no man's land.

The 1.1 million strong Rohingyas are a religious minority in Buddhist majority Myanmar. Despite living in the country for generations Myanmar does not recognize the Rohingya as an ethnic group, but considers them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

AFP

They do not enjoy equal land or voting rights like their Buddhist neighbours. They also face constant attacks from Buddhist extremist groups wanting to drive them out of Myanmar.

In 2013 the UN called the Rohingyas as the 'most persecuted minority in the world'.