Dhaka: The Bangladesh government has identified 57 survivors rescued by India off the Andaman Coast as Bangladeshi citizens, according to a report on the BBC Bengali Service.

The Bangladesh Deputy High Commissioner Masud Mahmud in Kolkata said that there may at least 57 Bangladeshis among the survivors, the report said. He said that soon as formal verifications are done, the repatriation procedure would begin.

However, Foreign Affairs Secretary Touhid Hossain said that 57 people had already been identified as Bangladeshi nationals and that the number might increase.

According to a source, India has started revealing the identities of the people who had been intercepted by Thai forces on their way to Malaysia from Bangladesh and Burma in search of jobs.

The group was rescued by the Indian Navy after they were left to drift at sea two months ago with little food or water. Thai troops reportedly seized their boat engines and dragged them out of Thai territory into open waters.

Over 300 men, mostly Rohingya, are feared to have drowned at sea when the boat approached the Andaman Island of India.

The Bangladesh government is now preparing to repatriate its citizens from India, but the Burmese military government is still silent on the issue, even though many of its citizens went missing and died in the Andaman Sea.