DHAKA: An aid worker says a boat carrying 70 Muslim Rohinyga has capsized off the western coast of Myanmar. So far, only eight survivors have been found.

Abdul Melik, who works for the humanitarian organisation Action Against Hunger, says the boat was in the Bay of Bengal and headed for Bangladesh when it went down early Sunday, reports The Straits Times.

Relatives of those on board are scouring waters and coastlines.

The incident comes after the United Nations warned that an annual and often deadly exodus of desperate people from Myanmar’s Rakhine state appears to have begun.

The exodus usually kicks off in November, when seas calm.

BDST: 1621 HRS, NOV 03, 2013
RoR/JCK