Nearly 400 Rohingya rescued by Bangladesh coast guard from boat; over 30 dead

At least 32 Rohingyas died with hundreds rescued in Bangladesh after a boat drifted for weeks as it was turned back from Malaysia, Bangladesh coast guard officials said on Thursday.

The coast guard officer Shah Zia Rahman said that about 250 women and children were among the 400 or so who were rescued late on Wednesday from the vessel off the Cox's Bazar district in southeastern Bangladesh.

"They were starving," he said.

Rahman said that other survivors had told them that 32 people died on board with their bodies dumped in the sea and that the boat had tried to enter Malaysia and Thailand.

However, two other survivors claimed that 60 people who were on board died.

"There were more than 500 people onboard, jam-packed. At least 60 of us died in the boat. We held on board their funeral prayers and dropped their bodies in the sea," Survivor Anwarul Islam said.

"We barely had food, fresh water, and medicines."

Islamalso said that the captain of their boat was also killed in a fight that broke out after he tried to rape one of the women.

Both Islam and another survivor Anwar Alam said that they tried to enter Thailand and Malaysia, but were denied entry and their voyage continued for two months and 18 days.

"We entered Malaysia (waters) three times but they didn't let us in. Many of us died in the heat and sweat. There were too many onboard, mostly women and children," Alam said.

Video images showed a crowd that mostly had women and children were unable to stand and being helped to shore. A very thin man was lying on the sand.

They were "extremely malnourished and dehydrated," the UN's refugee agency said.

Bangladesh media reports claimed that the Rohingyas were not allowed to enter Malaysia due to stricter measures put in place to contain coronavirus spread.

About a million Rohingya live in camps near Bangladesh's border with Myanmar after fleeing a military offensive in 2017. Thousands every year attempt to reach other countries on crowded and poorly-made boats.

(With AFP, Reuters inputs)