An Indian Coast Guard official said they had received information about a boat with people stranded, but said it was not in Indian waters. When asked where the boat is at present, the official did not comment.
Saeed Alam, a Rohingya activist from Thailand, who also said he spoke to relatives of those who died, said some of the passengers had died. Reuters was not able to independently verify this.
“Their condition is very bad… (they) are weak and if no help is given, they will die,” he said.
The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday that this year has seen a “dramatic increase” in the number of people trying to cross the Andaman Sea between Myanmar and Bangladesh. At least 1,900 people made the crossing, which is one of the world’s deadliest crossings, six times as many as in 2020.
