Nearly 60,000 have fled Myanmar violence into Bangladesh: UN

Rohingya refugees from Rakhine state in Myanmar walk along a path near Teknaf in Bangladesh on September 2, 2017.
Around 400 people — most of them Rohingya Muslims — have died in violence searing through Myanmar’s Rakhine state, the army chief’s office said on September 1, with tens of thousands forced to flee across the border into Bangladesh. A further 20,000 Rohingya have massed along the Bangladeshi frontier, barred from entering the South Asian country, while scores of desperate people have drowned attempting to cross the Naf, a border river, in makeshift boats.
 / AFP PHOTO / Suzauddin RUBEL
Rohingya refugees from Rakhine state in Myanmar walk along a path near Teknaf in Bangladesh on September 2, 2017. Around 400 people — most of them Rohingya Muslims — have died in violence searing through Myanmar’s Rakhine state, the army chief’s office said on September 1, with tens of thousands forced to flee across the border into Bangladesh. A further 20,000 Rohingya have massed along the Bangladeshi frontier, barred from entering the South Asian country, while scores of desperate people have drowned attempting to cross the Naf, a border river, in makeshift boats. / AFP PHOTO / Suzauddin RUBEL

Nearly 60,000 people, mostly Rohingya Muslims, have crossed into Bangladesh in the last eight days desperately trying to escape spiralling communal violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, the United Nations refugee agency said Saturday.

“The estimated number is 58,600 (as of) today according to various aid agencies and will keep going up,” UNHCR spokeswoman Vivian Tan told AFP.

Subscribe to the WTF is Up in Southeast Asia + Hong Kong podcast to get our take on the top trending news and pop culture from the region every Thursday!




BECOME A COCO+ MEMBER

Support local news and join a community of like-minded
“Coconauts” across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.

Join Now
Coconuts TV
Our latest and greatest original videos
YouTube video
Subscribe on