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16 Rohingya, including children, drown fleeing Myanmar
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Crowded:This file photo taken on May 31, 2017 shows Rohingya refugees sitting near a house destroyed by Cyclone Mora in a camp in the Cox's Bazar district. The UN was (AFP/File)
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oastguards in Bangladesh on Thursday found the bodies of 16 Rohingya, many of them children, who drowned when their boat capsized as they fled an upsurge in violence in Myanmar that has forced at least 18,500 to seek refuge across the border.
Officials in Bangladesh say growing numbers of Rohingya are trying to cross the Naf river that divides the two countries in rickety boats, which often do not survive the rough waters as they become increasingly desperate to escape.
The International Organization for Migration said Wednesday that at least 18,500 Rohingya had crossed into Bangladesh since fighting erupted in Myanmar's neighbouring Rakhine state six days earlier.
But some do not make it. On Wednesday, the bodies of two Rohingya women and two children washed up in Bangladesh after their rickety boat capsized.
And on Thursday Nurul Amin Rohingya, a local official, said another boat had capsized killing 16 Rohingya.
"We have found 16 bodies washed ashore this morning," he told AFP.
A coast guard official, who asked not to be named, said the migrants were travelling on "rickety inland fishing boats" ill-equipped for the rough seas around Bangladesh.
The Naf river that divides the two countries is narrow in places, but the Rohingya are increasingly crossing where the river is wider, or even venturing out to sea, after Bangladeshi authorities toughened their border patrols.
Bangladesh is already home to an estimated 400,000 Rohingya, a mainly Muslim stateless minority.
