The Bangladeshi Navy rescued about 600 refugees from a Burmese flagged boat drifting in Bangladeshi territorial waters on 17th November at about 2.30pm according to reports in many Bangladeshi newspapers.
According to the Bangladeshi Navy brokers had told the refugees that the boat was going to Malaysia where they could find work.
There were about 20 women and children among the survivors who were a mixture of Burmese and Bangladeshi nationals according to the Bangladeshi authorities.
At present the authorities do not exactly know who all the refugees are.
The Bangladeshi Navy was patrolling their territorial waters about 50 miles south east of Saint Martin Island (Coconut Island in Burmese) when they found the drifting boat.
The navy has transferred the 600 survivors to Teknaf Police Station and they have also detained 14 suspected human traffickers.
Similarly, in June 2014 the Bangladeshi Navy rescued another 313 refugees from a boat.
Translated by Aung Myat Soe English version written by Mark Inkey for BNI
