Ten drown as Rohingya boat sinks off Bangladesh

Islam said 21 survivors had swum to safety after the small fishing trawler overturned, and coast and border guards were conducting a search and rescue operation in the Naf river.

Sheikh Ashrafuzzaman, a senior police officer, said authorities had recovered the bodies of six children and four women.

"The accident happened during early morning prayers," said Shams Uddin, a local resident who saw the tragedy. "I think the boat overturned as the boatmen tried to reach the shore against the returning currents."

The UN said over the weekend that 537,000 Rohingya had arrived in Bangladesh over the last seven weeks. They are fleeing violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state, where the United Nations has accused troops of waging an ethnic cleansing campaign against them.

Another 12,000 have entered in the last 24 hours, local border guard spokesman Major Iqbal Ahmed said.

"We are keeping them near the border and they will be eventually be taken to the new camps," he told AFP.

Bangladesh has allocated 3,000 acres (1,214 hectares) of forest land to create the world's largest refugee camp for the new arrivals as well as those already in the country.

Many of the new arrivals have already occupied the land and built their own makeshift shelters.

The stateless Muslim minority has faced decades of persecution in mainly Buddhist Myanmar.

The latest influx began in late August after attacks by Rohingya militants on police posts in Myanmar.

The latest accident came a week after another boat packed with Rohingya refugees capsized in the area, killing at least 34 people including many children.

One border guard told AFP the boat was just 200 yards from the Bangladesh coast when it sank in rough waters.

source:AFP