Bangladesh coastguard rescues 122 Rohingya refugees from sinking boat

Bangladesh coastguard rescued 122 Rohingya Muslim refugees from the Bay of Bengal on Thursday as the boat they had boarded to illegally flee to Malaysia started sinking due to a mechanical problem, Reuters reports.

“Our patrol team rushed there after being informed by the fishermen out at sea that a boat was sinking due to engine failure,” Lieutenant Commander Saiful Islam said on Friday. The coastguard rescued 58 women, 47 men and 17 children from the floundering boat.

So far this year Bangladesh police and coastguard have prevented more than 500 Rohingya refugees from being trafficked to Malaysia.

The refugees had risked the perilous voyage in order to seek a better life than the overcrowded camps in Bangladesh offer. More than 730,000 Rohingya Muslims fled to Bangladesh due to a crackdown by Myanmar’s military in 2017.