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Two Rohingya boats feared lost off Myanmar: more than 500 people may have died, UN says
More than 500 people are feared dead after two boats carrying mainly Rohingya refugees may have capsized off Myanmar, the UN's migration agency IOM and refugee agency UNHCR said in a joint statement on Thursday, July 16. The Guardian and Al Jazeera both reported that the vessels left Myanmar's Rakhine state in late June.
One boat, believed to be carrying about 250 people, lost contact shortly after departure. The second, with about 280 people, is believed to have sunk off the Ayeyarwady coast on July 8. Some passengers had reportedly come from the camps in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, where more than a million Rohingya live.
“UNHCR and IOM are gravely concerned by the potentially devastating loss of life.” — joint UN statement, via Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera noted that Rohingya usually avoid sailing during the monsoon, and that the agencies said recent torrential rain and flooding made the journeys especially risky. It also linked the departures to ration cuts in the camps after steep reductions in US and other foreign aid.
How each outlet framed it
- The Guardian — the scale of the route: nearly 900 Rohingya reported dead or missing at sea last year, out of more than 6,500 who tried.
- Al Jazeera — why people still leave: aid cuts, no safe return to Myanmar and boats abandoned by maritime authorities.
- ABC News (US) — the AP wire angle: officials still investigating reports of the capsizings.
What we don't know yet: neither the sinkings nor the casualty figures have been officially confirmed, and no survivors have been reported.