17 bodies found, 33 missing after Rohingya boat overturns near Myanmar

Aug. 10 (UPI) -- A nonprofit rescue team recovered 17 bodies while 33 remain missing after a boat carrying Rohingya Muslims capsized near Myanmar while sailing to Malaysia, Myanmar on Monday, officials said on Thursday.

Bya Latt, a spokesperson with the rescue group Shwe Yaung Matta Foundation, said eight people from the capsized boat were found alive along with the bodies of 10 women and seven men. The boat was attempting to reach Malaysia and ran into a storm on the sea and sank under powerful waves, near Sittwe.

Latt said the survivors were being held at a local police station and an investigation and search for more bodies and survivors continued. Authorities said the victims came from numerous townships, including Rathedaung, Maungdaw and Buthidaung, the police official said.

They had been sailing on a wooden boat carrying 58 passengers and crew.

Ethnic Rohingya Muslims are a religious minority in Myanmar where a 2017 military operation forced 700,000 people into refugee camps in Bangladesh.

As a result, thousands have attempted the dangerous trip to Malaysia, Indonesia, and other Muslim countries seeking a better life. According to the United Nations, more than 3,500 braved the harrowing trip across the Andaman Sea and the Bay Bengal in 2022.