UN warns that 2 boats adrift in the Andaman Sea with 400 Rohingya aboard

5/12/2023 19:24

        An estimated 400 Rohingya Muslims believed to be aboard two boats adrift in the Andaman Sea without adequate supplies could die if more is not done to rescue them, according to the U.N. refugee agency and aid workers.
        
        The number of Rohingya Muslims fleeing by boats in a seasonal exodus - usually from squalid, overcrowded refugee camps in Bangladesh - has been rising since last year due to cuts to food rations and a spike in gang violence.
        
        "There are about 400 children, women and men looking death in the eye if there are no moves to save these desperate souls," Babar Baloch, the agency’s Bangkok-based regional spokesperson, told The Associated Press.
        
        The whereabouts of the other boat were unclear.