Rohingya death toll at sea in 2023 worst for almost a decade – UN
Dhaka, Bangladesh Reuters At least 569 Rohingya were reported to have died or gone missing while trying to flee Myanmar or Bangladesh in 2023, the highest toll since 2014, the UN refugee agency said on Tuesday, calling for urgent action to protect the ethnic minority group. The deaths or disappearances occurred during attempted crossings of […]
Myanmar military, insurgents battle over port town
Reuters Myanmar’s military has launched attacks from the air and the sea to recapture a port town on the Bay of Bengal, an opposition alliance said on Friday, as junta forces face the fiercest offensive from their enemies in years. The military, which seized power from an elected government in a 2021 coup, is battling […]
At least 17 dead as boat carrying Rohingya sinks in Bay of Bengal
Reuters At least 17 Rohingya were killed and 30 remain missing after a boat capsized in bad weather in the Bay of Bengal earlier this week, aid workers in Myanmar said. An aerial view of Hla Phoe Khaung transit camp for Rohingya who decide to return back from Bangladesh, is seen in Maungdaw, Rakhine state, […]
Cyclone Mocha floods Myanmar port city, sparing major refugee camps
Dhaka, BangladeshReuters Storm surges whipped up by a powerful cyclone moving inland from the Bay of Bengal inundated the Myanmar port city of Sittwe on Saturday, but largely spared a densely-populated cluster of refugee camps in low-lying neighbouring Bangladesh. Some 400,000 people were evacuated in Myanmar and Bangladesh ahead of Cyclone Mocha making landfall, as […]
Rohingya fleeing Myanmar or Bangladesh by sea surged fivefold in 2022 – UN
New Delhi, India Reuters The number of Rohingya fleeing Myanmar or Bangladesh by sea surged fivefold to more than 3,500 in 2022 from a year earlier, the UN refugee agency said on Tuesday, in the deadliest year for the ethnic minority group at since 2014. At least 348 Rohingya died or went missing as they […]
Hundreds of thousands evacuated as Bangladesh braces for cyclone
Dhaka, BangladeshReuters Authorities in Bangladesh were evacuating hundreds of thousands of people on Monday before Cyclone Sitrang made landfall amid fears of heavy damage to houses and crops and disruption to road and power links. Approaching from the Bay of Bengal, Sitrang was expected to hit the southern coast near the Khepupara area of the […]
Climate migration fuels conflicts in Bay of Bengal region
Chennai, IndiaThomson Reuters Foundation Military and civil conflicts could intensify along the Bay of Bengal coastline, fuelled by climate change-linked migration, land loss and displacement, researchers say. The area is seeing frequent extreme weather, which combined with its strategic, social and economic fault-lines, makes it “fertile ground” for social friction and violence, they warned. Rohingya […]
Dozens of Rohingya missing after boat sinks in Bay of Bengal
Dhaka, BangladeshReuters More than two dozen Rohingya refugees were missing and feared drowned after their boat sank in the Bay of Bengal while trying to flee a remote Bangladeshi island, officials said on Sunday. “We are devastated that reportedly many passengers, including women and children, have tragically drowned. The confirmed number is not yet known,” […]
BANGLADESH: AS LIGHTNING STRIKES SURGE, PLANTING USED TO REDUCE RISKS
Lightning strikes killed around 360 people in Bangladesh last year. AZM ANAS, writing for Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on efforts to reduce the death toll using fast-growing palm trees…