Upto 200 killed in Myanmar boat accident

Vessel with 200 Rohingya Muslims evacuating camps ahead of storm sinks, leaving only one survivor, say UN officials.

A boat carrying about 200 Rohingya Muslims who were evacuating ahead of a storm has capsized off western Myanmar, killing all but one person, UN officials have said.

Kirsten Mildren, of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told Al Jazeera there was only one confirmed survivor from Tuesday's accident.

Barbara Manzi, head of the Myanmar OCHA office, said the boat struck rocks off the Pauktaw township in Rakhine State, and sank late on Monday.

The victims were trying to escape Cyclone Mahasen which is expected on Thursday and Friday. The UN has warned the storm could lead to "life-threatening conditions".

Al Jazeera's Everton Fox explains the weather impact of Tropical Cyclone Mahasen

Myanmar state television said on Monday that thousands of people displaced by communal violence last year had been evacuated from makeshift camps to safer ground in the event of the storm.

The report said authorities had moved 5,158 people from low-lying camps in the Rakhine state capital, Sittwe, to safer shelter.
But human rights groups said that the government has been too slow to act, and ignored earlier warnings to provide shelter to displaced people.

"The Burmese government didn't heed the repeated warnings by governments and humanitarian aid groups to relocate displaced Muslims ahead of Burma’s rainy season," said Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch Asia director.

"If the government fails to evacuate those at risk, any disaster that results will not be natural, but man-made," he said.

Source: AlJazeera