The United Nations refugee agency is investigating reports that two boats carrying members of Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya minority have capsized in the Bay of Bengal.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said in a statement Tuesday that the boats reportedly departed Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine in late June before sinking.
Around 1.2 million stateless, predominantly Muslim Rohingya remain trapped in squalid, overcrowded refugee camps in Bangladesh after fleeing waves of violence by Myanmar’s security forces.
The refugees have no way to safely return to Myanmar, where the military that killed thousands of Rohingya in 2017 during what the United States declared a genocide remains in charge of their homeland. The Rohingya still living in Myanmar face severe restrictions and many are confined to internment camps.
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