Two dead as boat carrying over 40 Rohingya refugees overturns near Bangladesh shore

Police have recovered a total of 88 bodies from the monsoon-swollen Naf river that divides Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Rohingya scuffle to get aid material from local volunteers at Kutupalong, Bangladesh. (Photo | AP)
Rohingya scuffle to get aid material from local volunteers at Kutupalong, Bangladesh. (Photo | AP)

COX'S BAZAR: Bangladesh police say another boat carrying about 40 Rohingya women and children fleeing Myanmar has capsized in the monsoon-swollen Naf River.

Teknaf police chief Mainuddin Khan says at least two people drowned, while others managed to swim to safety on the Bangladeshi shore.

An AP photographer saw one injured baby taken to a hospital in critical condition.

Khan said dozens of boats have capsized since the refugees began fleeing violence in Myanmar on Aug. 25.

Police have recovered a total of 88 bodies from the river that divides the two countries.

India says it is sending aid supplies including food and mosquito nets to help the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees who have poured into Bangladesh to escape recent violence in Myanmar.

The foreign ministry said the supplies would be sent in several air lifts starting Thursday and would include rice, pulses, sugar, salt, cooking oil, tea, noodles and biscuits.

Bangladesh has been overwhelmed by the refugee influx, and supplies remain scarce at camps in the border district of Cox's Bazar.

Other nations and UN agencies were also sending and distributing supplies.

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