Junta troops apprehended a drifting boat containing 66 Rohingya, six of whom had died of hunger, thirst and exposure, off the coast from Gayatgyi Village in Ayeyarwaddy Region’s Amar Township on 29 August.

According to a resident of Gayatgyi Village there had been two boats. The one captured by the junta troops had engine failure and was just drifting and the other boat escaped before the troops arrived.

He said: “I heard that there were two boats in all. One of the boats escaped after being shot at by the junta navy. 66 Rohingya people were captured on the boat, [of them] three men and three women had already died on the boat.”

He added that a Rohingya child died whilst the junta forces were transporting the Rohingya to Bogale Police Station in Ayeyarwaddy Region’s Bogale Township.

This brought the death toll to seven.

Currently, the remaining 59 Rohingya are being held at Bogale Police Station. They are in poor health due to a lack of food and water according to people who have knowledge of what is happening at the police station.

About 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled a military crackdown in 2017, arriving in neighbouring Bangladesh with harrowing stories of murder, rape and arson.

Each year, hundreds make perilous, months-long boat journeys to other parts of Southeast Asia, often during the November-March period when the sea is said to be the safest for the small trawlers used by traffickers.

Malaysia, a Muslim-majority nation, is the favoured destination as it hosts a sizeable Rohingya diaspora.