15 Rohingyas die as trawler capsizes in Bay near Cox’s Bazar

At least 15 people died as a trawler carrying Rohingyas from Myanmar capsized in the Bay near Inani beach in Ukhia upazila of Cox's Bazar today.

Bodies of 15 Rohingyas including children and women were recovered from near the beach, our Cox's Bazar staff correspondent reports quoting Ukhia Upazila Nirbahi Officer Md Mainuddin.

So far 19 Rohingya Muslims were rescued after the trawler capsized that took place due to bad weather in the Bay, said Stalin Barua, sub-inspector of Inani police camp.

Eight of them were admitted to Ukhia Upazila Health Complex and six others – Abdul Gaffar, 14, Toflin, 12, Sajeda, 18, Anwar Shahdat, 10, Md Shahdat, 7, and Md Kashem, 40, -- were taken to the Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital.

Coastguards and police are conducting a rescue operation since the trawler sank in Patuartek area of Inani around 4:00pm.

Kashem, who boarded the trawler, told our correspondent that the trawler carrying 90 Rohingya Muslims started from Merulla lake in Myanmar around 9:00pm yesterday.   

He lost his wife Shahjahan Begum, two daughters – Nurjahan and Rokeya -- in the capsize incident.

Kashem hailing from Jahama village at Bhusidang of Myanmar's Rakhine state is now admitted at Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital, our correspondent said.

Around 120 Rohingyas, many of them children, have drowned trying to reach Bangladesh in small fishing boats that coastguards say are woefully inadequate for the rough seas, AFP reports.

The United Nations estimates that around 480,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar's violence-wracked Rakhine state since August 25.