This photo taken on May 22 courtesy of an anonymous source shows officials looking at bodies washed up on a beach after a boat carrying 61 people that left from Rakhine state capsized, in Pathein district, about 200km west of Yangon. (Photo: Handout/AFP)
Six bodies were discovered along with 59 Rohingya survivors on a boat floating near an island off Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady Delta region on Aug. 29, according to news reports.
The Coast Guard stopped and boarded the boat following reports it had been drifting for several days near Gayatgyi island, which lies just off the coast, reported BenarNews citing an earlier report by Radio Free Asia.
Local residents said three men and three women had died of starvation and that a child from the boat later died after survivors were taken to a police station in Bogale township about 100 kilometers southwest of the country's commercial capital Yangon.
The latest incident came three months after the deaths of at least 17 Rohingya including children in another boat tragedy.
That boat, carrying at least 90 people, was on its way to Malaysia across the Bay of Bengal when it encountered bad weather off Ayeyarwady, causing it to capsize near Pathein township.
Meanwhile, at least 53 Rohingya were arrested in Thandwe township, Rakhine state between Aug 19-26, according to media reports.
Those who remain in Myanmar are trapped in appalling conditions"
They had reportedly fled from northern Rakhine’s Maungdaw township and were arrested while hiding in forests after their boat was destroyed in a storm.
Rohingya from villages and camps in Rakhine state said they are facing more oppressive rules under the junta while their freedom of movement is also restricted.
Rohingya Muslims, who are effectively denied citizenship in Myanmar, are regularly arrested for attempting to flee the dire conditions in Rakhine.
More than 600,000 Rohingya remain in Rakhine subject to government persecution and violence two years after a military crackdown forced more than 740,000 to flee to Bangladesh.
Tens of thousands more have fled Rakhine and boarded overcrowded and unsafe boats for Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
Rights groups said those who remain in Myanmar are trapped in appalling conditions, confined to camps and villages and cut off from access to adequate food, medical care, education and livelihoods.
Myanmar has faced mounting pressure from the international community over rights abuses against the Rohingya and the International Court of Justice has filed genocide charges.
Myanmar regards the Rohingya as Bengalis, saying that they are interlopers from neighboring Bangladesh despite most of their ancestors having lived in the country for decades.
