United News of Bangladesh

At least 250 people, including Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals, are missing after a boat sank in the Andaman Sea while heading to Malaysia, according to the United Nations refugee and migration agencies. The UNHCR and International Organization for Migration said the boat departed from Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar carrying many passengers when it reportedly sank due to heavy winds, rough seas and overcrowding. The exact timing of the incident remains unclear. However, on April 9, a Bangladesh-flagged vessel rescued nine people who were found “clinging to drums and wooden debris” to stay afloat, according to the Bangladesh Coast Guard. Bangladesh Coast Guard spokesperson Lt Com Sabbir Alam Suzan told the media on Wednesday that the nine survivors included three Rohingya refugees and six Bangladeshi nationals. They were rescued by the Bangladesh-flagged vessel M.T. Meghna Pride after being spotted floating at sea following the capsize. He said the survivors were later handed over to the coast guard and taken to Teknaf police station. The rescued group comprised eight men and one woman, all are safe. Suzan added that the rescue was not part of any official search operation, as the incident occurred outside Bangladesh’s territorial waters. He said the M.T. Meghna Pride, which was travelling from Chittagong to Indonesia, came across the survivors during its voyage. UNHCR communications officer in Cox’s Bazar, Shari Nijman, said on Wednesday that the agency had no further updates on the situation. A separate Bangladesh Coast Guard media official, speaking to the media by phone on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the rescued individuals were all safe after being handed over to authorities in Teknaf. The agencies said the incident highlights the prolonged displacement of Rohingya refugees and the lack of durable solutions to their situation. They noted that ongoing violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State has made safe repatriation uncertain. Limited humanitarian aid, along with restricted access to education and employment in refugee camps, continues to push vulnerable Rohingya to undertake dangerous sea journeys in search of better opportunities abroad, often driven by false promises of higher wages. UNHCR and IOM urged the international community to increase funding and solidarity to ensure life-saving assistance for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, which currently hosts more than 1 million displaced Rohingya from Myanmar. #From Agencies

Eight people, including six children, died when a small boat carrying an unspecified number of migrants sank off the coast of the Greek island of Samos, officials said Monday. In a separate incident on a different island, an elderly man died as a group of 27 migrants made landfall in a small boat, the coast guard said. Nobody was reported missing. The coast guard said 36 survivors from the first incident were found on a rocky shoreline on Samos, while three others were rescued earlier. It was not immediately clear whether anyone else was still missing. The nationalities of the people on the boat were not known. A patrol vessel, a lifeboat, a navy ship, a helicopter and land crews were searching for potential missing people, as survivors were unable to provide an exact number of how many migrants had been on the boat, the coast guard said. Authorities confirmed the recovery of the bodies of six children and two adult women. Greece's Minister for Migration Nikos Panagiotopoulos deplored the incident and pledged tougher action against organized migrant-smuggling groups. “The shipwreck on Samos, with the loss of eight innocent lives, including six children, fills us with sadness and anger,” he said. “The unscrupulous criminals who trade in human lives will meet with our determination to eradicate (their activities).” Samos and other islands in the eastern Aegean Sea serve as key transit points for migrants entering the European Union illegally from the nearby Turkish coast. Migrant crossings have increased in recent months, with Greek officials attributing the rise to ongoing conflicts in the Middle East. Boat capsizes in eastern Congo lake, killing at least 50 people, witnesses say Also Monday, the coast guard said one elderly man died during the disembarkation of a group of 27 migrants from a small boat on the eastern island of Lesbos. The other 26 migrants were found in good health and nobody was reported missing. The causes of the man's death were unclear. According to United Nations data, more than 54,000 people have entered Greece illegally so far by sea or land this year. Most arrive in small boats from Turkey, although there has been an increase in Mediterranean crossings from Libya — a longer and riskier journey. In the whole of 2023, almost 49,000 people arrived in Greece illegally