Scores Missing as Bangladesh Refugee Boat Sinks

Nearly 90 people are missing after an overloaded boat carrying Rohingya refugees towards Malaysia sank off Bangladesh early on Wednesday, the second such tragedy in less than a fortnight, officials said.

Bangladesh Border Guard commander Lieutenant Colonel Zahid Hasan said the wooden vessel was carrying around 110 passengers when it went down around 15 kilometers (nine miles) off the southern Cox's Bazaar coastal district.

"We have rescued 23 survivors with the help of local fishermen and a search and rescue operation is underway," Hasan told Agence France Presse.

"The boat was heading to Malaysia illegally," he added.

Hasan confirmed that at least two of those who had been rescued were Rohingya and that they were all being kept in custody.

Lieutenant Badruddoza, a commander in the coastguard who uses only one name, said that a search and rescue operation was being conducted in conjunction with the Bangladesh navy.

The latest tragedy comes after a boat carrying some 135 passengers, mostly Muslim Rohingya refugees who had fled unrest in neighboring Myanmar, sank in the Bay of Bengal on October 28. Only around half a dozen made it to safety.

Hasan said that the survivors of Wednesday’s accident had either managed to be picked up by passing fishing boats or were found floating in the water by the rescue teams.

He said the wooden motorboat had a capacity of 70 passengers.

Hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingya have fled Myanmar in past decades to escape persecution, often heading to neighboring Bangladesh, and recent outbreaks of violence, in June and October, have triggered another exodus.