60 Rohingya die, hundreds rescued from boat after two months at sea near Bangladesh

A man said that after the ship was denied entry by both Malaysia and Thailand it headed back to Bangladesh where they were picked up by the coastguard

The captain of the vessel, carrying over 500 men, women and children, was also killed in a fight with those on board

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Bangladesh’s coastguard rescued hundreds of Rohingya refugees who had been drifting at sea for months after failing to reach Malaysia. Photo: AP

Published: 5:45am, 17 Apr 2020Updated: 6:16am, 17 Apr 2020

Sixty Rohingya died on a boat crammed with hundreds of people stranded in the Bay of Bengal for more than two months, two survivors said on Thursday.

Both said that the captain of the fishing trawler, carrying over 500 men, women and children, was also killed in a fight with those on board.

Nearly a million Rohingya live in squalid camps near Bangladesh’s border with Myanmar after fleeing a military offensive in 2017. Thousands try every year to reach other countries on crowded rickety boats.

Survivor Anwarul Islam said that after the ship was denied entry by both Malaysia and Thailand it headed back to Bangladesh where they were picked up by the coastguard late on Wednesday.

“There were more than 500 people on-board, jam-packed. At least 60 of us died in the boat. We held on board their funeral prayers and dropped their bodies in the sea,” Islam said. “We barely had food, freshwater, and medicines.”

“The captain tried to rape one of our women and fighting broke out,” Islam said, stating the man was killed during the confrontation and his body thrown overboard.