ohingya refugees wait after their boat capsized near the Saint Martin's island in the Bay of Bengal, in Teknaf, near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, February 11, 2020.
At least a dozen people drowned after an overcrowded boat carrying Rohingya Muslim refugees capsized and sank off the coast of Bangladesh Tuesday.
Authorities said more than 120 refugees were on board the vessel that was carrying them across the Bay of Bengal to Malaysia. At least 60 of the passengers have been rescued, and a search has been launched to find other survivors.
Authorities say the refugees were lured by traffickers.
More than 700,000 Rohingyas have been living in overcrowded refugee camps on Cox's Bazar since August 2017, when they fled their homes in Myanmar's Rakhine state amid a brutal crackdown by Myanmar's military. Many of the refugees have tried to make the hazardous sea journey to Malaysia, but have been stopped by Bangladeshi coastal authorities.