97 asylum seekers die after 25 days sat sea

Burmese asylum seekers rescued by Sri Lanka's navy last week said they floated at sea for 25 days and 97 people died of starvation after Thailand's navy intercepted them and forcibly removed their boat's engine. The Thai navy has denied the allegation.
Thirty-two men and a boy now held at an immigration detention centre near Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, were rescued last Saturday when their dilapidated wooden vessel began sinking while making a perilous journey to Malaysia.
All are Rohingya Muslims who face heavy discrimination in Burma, and say they do not want to return there.
The survivors were suffering from serious dehydration when they were rescued about 250 miles off Sri Lanka's east coast. The Sri Lankan navy said it was alerted to the sinking vessel by a fisherman.
"The journey was dangerous, but we had to do that ... as we fear for our lives, no jobs, and big fighting [in Burma]," one of the survivors, Shofiulla, said.
Sectarian violence in western Burma has killed hundreds of people and displaced 100,000 more since last June. The United Nations estimates the Rohingya population in Burma at 800,000, but the Burmese government does not recognise them as one of the country's 135 ethnic groups.