Dozens of Rohingya women and children desperate to flee the violence in Myanmar are drowning while attempting to escape to Bangladesh by boat.
A Bangladeshi border guard, who asked not to be identified, told CNN guards had retrieved eight bodies on the Bangladeshi side of the Naf River on Wednesday alone, half of whom were children.
“It was a case of a boat capsizing,” he said. ” (But) this has been happening from day one … Since then, around 60 to 65 bodies have arrived south (of the border area.) In other areas, maybe 10 to 15.”
The border guard sent CNN photos appearing to showing young children lying dead on the banks of the Naf River.
“No-one comes to collect these bodies. These people are so distressed, they are walking, coming across fields for five days, they hardly recognize their own relatives,” he said.
At least 164,000 refugees have fled their homes in Rakhine State in western Myanmar since August 25, to escape conflict between the military and Rohingya militants, according to the Inter Sector Coordination Group (ISCG), a grouping of humanitarian agencies in Bangladesh.
The UN expects that number could rise as high as 300,000 by the year’s end — almost a third of the estimated one million Rohingya people, a stateless Muslim minority in Myanmar.
The border guard said some Rohingya have been paying fishermen as much as $250 per person to ferry them across the river on “very risky” boats.
“They are not designed to travel on this rough sea, they are taking long detour. It’s not only the type of boat, it is the capacity, only made for five, six, or 10 people and they are taking double or triple that number sometimes,” he said.
The Rohingya are considered to be among the world’s most persecuted people — with predominantly Buddhist Myanmar saying they are Bangladeshi and Bangladesh saying they’re Burmese.
The government of Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, blames terrorists for starting the violence. Rohingya militants killed 12 security officers in border post attacks almost two weeks ago, according to state media, intensifying the latest crackdown.
Desmond Tutu begs Suu Kyi to help
As the humanitarian crisis in South Asia continued to grow, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu wrote to his fellow Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, begging her to stop the violence.
“I am … breaking my vow of silence on public affairs out of profound sadness about the plight of the Muslim minority in your country, the Rohingya,” he wrote in an open letter, posted on his official Twitter.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto ruler of Myanmar as state counselor, has repeatedly come under criticism for her lack of action to help the Rohingya, a stark contrast to her previous image as a champion of human rights.
In his letter, Tutu described Suu Kyi as “a beloved younger sister,” and how he used to keep a photo of her on his desk to remind him of the woman who symbolized “righteousness” in the world.
“But what some have called ‘ethnic cleansing’ and others ‘a slow genocide’ has persisted — and recently accelerated. The images we are seeing of the suffering of the Rohingya fill us with pain and dread,” he said.
The former archbishop said any country which was “not at peace with itself” was not a free country. “If the political price of your ascension to the highest office in Myanmar is your silence, the price is surely too steep,” he said.
Tutu is the second Nobel laureate to strongly condemn Suu Kyi for her inaction. Malala Yousafzai, the youngest recipient of the prize, said “the world was waiting” for the Myanmar leader to help the refugees.
Outrage grows in Bangladesh
As refugees continue to pour across the border, discontent is growing inside Bangladesh at the ongoing violence in their neighboring Rakhine State.
A protest in the capital Dhaka is planned for Friday, with thousands of people expected to attend.
The Bangladeshi government summoned the Myanmar ambassador Wednesday to raise concerns about reports of landmines being laid on the border in the path of refugees.
There have been reports of Rohingya being crippled after stepping on the hidden mines while making their way to safety across the border.
In total, 414 people have now been killed since the violence began in Rakhine State in recent weeks, according to a statement from the Myanmar government.
“It’s possible the Myanmar military has planted the mines. There is no one else who could do it,” a senior Bangladeshi border guard told CNN.
Myanmar state media blamed local “terrorists” for placing mines in Rakhine State — where Rohingyas are concentrated — although not specifically on the border.