Dozens of people are feared dead after a boat full of Rohingya refugees capsized off the coast of Bangladesh on Thursday.
Police inspector Mohamed Kai Kislu told Al Jazeera that the bodies of 15 women and children were discovered after the boat sank near Patuwartek in the Cox’s Bazar district. Some 100 Rohingya refugees were said to be on the boat.
More than 450,000 Rohingya refugees have fled to Bangladesh in the last month, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
The outpouring of refugees began when the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army militant group attacked 30 police outposts in Rakhine state, sparking a government crackdown and widespread violence against the mostly-Muslim Rohingya population.