Over 100 Rohingyas drowned in Naf River crossing following fresh Myanmar military crackdown

Police in Cox’s Bazar have recovered the bodies of seven more Rohingyas from the Naf River, raising the total number of refugees killed during the crossing to over 100.

The bodies were recovered from various points on Wednesday morning, said Teknaf Police Station OC Mainuddin Khan.

Three of the victims are women, while the rest are children, he said. Police recovered the bodies between 8:00am and 11:00am near the Shah Porir Dwip area, reports bdnews24.

“We believe their boat capsized as it was making the crossing into Bangladesh,” Khan said.

The bodies of two Rohingya children had been recovered from the same point on Tuesday night. A total of 102 Rohingya bodies have now been recovered from various areas in Bandarban and Cox’s Bazar since the outbreak of violence on Aug 25.

The new military crackdown on Rohingyas in Myanmar followed an attack on at least 30 border police outposts and a military camp. Rohingya refugees have fled across the border into Bangladesh since then.

Those who managed to reach the Bangladesh border from the burning villages in Rakhine have attempted to cross the Naf River into Teknaf aboard fishing boats. The bodies of boat capsize victims regularly wash up on the shore. Some of the bodies have bullet wounds.

A UN estimate on Tuesday put the number of Rohingya refugees in the recent influx into Bangladesh at 370,000.