At least 14 dead as Rohingya refugee boat sinks off Bangladesh

At least 14 Rohingya refugees, most of them children, drowned and scores more were missing Monday after their overloaded boat capsized, the latest tragedy to strike those fleeing violence in Myanmar. Authorities in Bangladesh said the boat was carrying 60 to 100 people when it overturned and sank in rough seas on Sunday night. The bodies of 11 children, two women and a man were washed up on Shah Porir Dwip island in Bangladesh and border guards pulled 13 survivors from the sea, but the fate of the others remains unknown. Alif Jukhar, a Rohingya refugee who has long lived in Bangladesh, lost nine relatives in the disaster including his mother and father.
More than half a million Rohingya have left Myanmar since militant raids on police posts on August 25 prompted a brutal military backlash against the Muslim minority, which the United Nations has said could amount to ethnic cleansing. Around 150 have drowned trying to make the journey in small and rickety fishing boats that coastguards say are woefully inadequate for the rough seas.