Boats carrying fleeing Rohingya Muslims capsize

SITTWE — An overcrowded boat capsized while trying to escape a cyclone bearing down on Myanmar, tossing dozens of Rohingya Muslims into the sea. Eight bodies were found and more than 50 people were missing and feared dead, the United Nations said yesterday.

More than 100 Rohingya were aboard the boat, said James Munn, an official with the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The UN said tens of thousands of Rohingya were endangered by the storm. About 140,000 people — mostly Rohingya — are living in flimsy tents and makeshift shelters in Rakhine state. They sought refuge in the camps after two outbreaks of Buddhist-Muslim violence last year.

Ashok Nigam, the United Nations' humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar, said nearly 70,000 of the displaced should be moved to higher ground. They are in low-lying areas along the coast that are highly susceptible to tidal surges and flooding. It was raining at the camps on yesterday.

Cyclone Mahasen is expected to make landfall late Thursday or early Friday. The storm was heading toward Chittagong, Bangladesh, but could shift east and deliver a more direct hit on Rakhine state, according to Myanmar's Meteorology Department. Heavy rains and strong winds are expected to batter Rakhine.

Myanmar state television reported Monday that 5,158 people had been relocated from low-lying camps in Rakhine state to safer shelters. International rights and aid agencies urged that the evacuations be stepped up.

"If the government fails to evacuate those at risk, any disaster that results will not be natural, but man-made," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

Many people in Buddhist-majority Myanmar see Rohingya Muslims as illegal migrants from Bangladesh, even though many have lived in Myanmar for generations, and they are denied citizenship as a result.

Myanmar's southern delta was devastated in 2008 by Cyclone Nargis, which swept away entire farming villages and killed more than 130,000 people.