Teknaf: 12 Burmese boatmen have been missing since a timber cargo ship sank near the Mayu lighthouse in theBay of Bengal last Friday, a businessman reported hearing from the cargo owner.
 
"The boat, Aung Pyo Wai, sank at 20 miles west of Mayu lighthouse off the Arakan coast when it faced heavy waves during a small storm," he said.
 
The boat departed from Pathein, the capital of the Irrawaddy Division, loaded with 150 tons of magnolia timber to export to Bangladesh. When the boat reached the Arakan coast, it faced the storm that caused it to sink.
 
"We are still looking for information about the incident but there has been no progress on any information. We all believe that there are no survivors," the businessman said.
 
The cargo owner has traveled to Teknaf on the Bangladesh border opposite Maungdaw, to inquire about the accident, but no one has dared to inform Burmese authorities of the incident because the timber being illegally exported to Bangladesh.
 
The boat was owned by a businessman in the town of Myeik in Tanintharyi Division in southern Burma, and the boatmen were from both Myeik and Pathein.
 
The boat owner lost an estimated 400 million kyat worth of property in the accident, the businessman said.