The vessel departed from Cox’s Bazar and Teknaf in Bangladesh 10 days ago and has been adrift for over a week after the engine broke down
A broken-down boat carrying ethnic Muslim Rohingya is believed to drifting in the Andaman Sea with some of them already dying from lack of food and water, the U.N. refugee agency said on Monday, appealing to Southeast Asian governments to rescue them.
The vessel departed from Cox’s Bazar and Teknaf in Bangladesh 10 days ago and has been adrift for over a week after the engine broke down, the U.N. High Commission For Refugees said. It could not confirm the number of people or the location of the boat, but said the refugees reported the vessel ran out of food and water several days ago.
“Many are in a highly vulnerable condition and are apparently suffering from extreme dehydration. We understand that a number of refugees have already lost their lives, and that fatalities have risen over the past 24 hours,” UNHCR director for Asia and the…