In their attempt to flee Myanmar, 17 Rohingyas, including children, were killed when their boat capsized off the country's coast.
The American news agency Associated Press (AP) reported on Tuesday the statements of UN officials and other officials Working in the field of humanitarian aid -- whose names have not been mentioned -- making state of "the death of 17 people, including children, after their boat was destroyed by a storm, causing it to capsize last Saturday".
The same sources explained that the accident happened off the southwest coast of Myanmar and also resulted in the death of 4 people, while 35 other passengers survived the sinking.
For its part, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it was shocked and saddened by the accident.
UNHCR said in a statement that the boat "departed from Rakhine State (western Myanmar) last Thursday and faced bad weather two days later off Ayeyarwady district. on the southwest coast of Myanmar, which caused her capsizing near the locality of Pathein".
Since August 25, 2017, the Myanmar armed forces and Buddhist militias have launched a military campaign that has resulted in brutal massacres against the Rohingyas in Arakan.
According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, most of whom are women and children, have taken refuge in Bangladesh after the brutal crackdown on the Muslim minority by Myanmar military forces in August In 2017, bringing the number of pound and refugee people in Bangladesh to more than 1.2 million.
These crimes, which are still ongoing, have led to the death of thousands of Rohingyas, according to concordant local and international sources, as well as the displacement of nearly a million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, according to the United Nations.
The Myanmar government considers the Rohingyas "illegal immigrants" from Bangladesh, while the United Nations ranks them as "the most persecuted minority in the world".
* Translated from Arabic by Mounir Bennour.
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