Yangon: The bodies of 14 people have been found washed up on a beach in Myanmar, police told on Monday, with a local rescue group saying some were Rohingya attempting to reach Malaysia.
The migrants had been travelling by boat from western Myanmar, according to a local Rohingya activist. “Fourteen dead bodies were found, 35 people including the boat owners were rescued alive,” said Lieutenant Colonel Tun Shwe, a police spokesperson in Pathein district, around 200 kilometres west of Yangon. A member of Myanmar Rescue Organization Pathein who requested anonymity said the group found eight bodies on Sunday and all were from the Rohingya minority.
A local Rohingya activist told AFP that 12 women and two boys had died. Their boat had been carrying people from the towns of Buthidaung, Maungdaw, and Sittwe in MyanmarR17;s Rakhine state, the activist added, also requesting anonymity.
