LOC17:33
14:33 GMT
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 8 (KUNA) -- Boats carrying tens of Rohingya Muslims have set out for Malaysia and Thailand, escaping from refugee camps in Myanmar and Bangladesh.
This causes growing fears over a possible recurrence of the so-called "death boats" disaster, when an estimated 25,000 Rohingya Muslims fled across the Andaman Sea for Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia in 2015, many drowning in unsafe and overloaded boats.
The Bangladesh Coastal Guard said in a release on Thursday that they had seized a Malaysia-destined boat carrying 33 Rohingya Muslims and six Bangladeshi people.
Relief workers said that several boats have already arrived in Malaysia from refugee camps in Bangladesh, noting that women and children were aboard the vessels.
Since August, nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled a brutal military crackdown in Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh.
Tens of thousands of Rohingya fled Myanmar by sea following an outbreak of sectarian violence in Rakhine in 2012. (end)
aab.mt