12 confirmed dead after Rohingya boat capsizes off Bangladesh

DHAKA - Twelve bodies were recovered after a boat with scores of Rohingyas on board capsized at the mouth of the Naf river that divides Myanmar and Bangladesh, a police official said Monday.

"Bodies of 10 children, one man and one woman have so far been recovered," said Md Main Uddin, officer-in-charge of Teknaf police station under Cox's Bazar district, some 292 km southeast of capital Dhaka.

He could not tell immediately when the boat capsized but assumed that it may have capsized sometime late Sunday night.

Law enforcers Monday morning recovered the bodies which were floating in the Bay of Bengal near Shah Porir Island of Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district which is now home to nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, he added.

According to the official, there is no information about how many people from the sunken boat managed to swim ashore after it capsized.

The official feared the death toll will rise, as some of the 11 rescued Rohingyas claimed some people are still missing.

He said a search operation is underway.

The bodies of 132 Rohingyas and a Bangladeshi boat man were recovered from the Naf River since Aug. 29 in at least 25 boat capsizal incidents.

Over half a million Rohingya people have fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar's Rakhine state amid a fresh wave of violence in the region since Aug. 25.