At least 12 dead after boat carrying Rohingya refugees capsizes

Rohingya Muslim refugees in Bangladesh. — (Image credit: Fred Dufour/AFP/Getty Images)

At least 12 Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar, including five children, died Monday when the boat they were in capsized off the shore of Bangladesh.

There were up to 35 people on the overcrowded boat when it capsized, police said. Eight refugees survived, and it's unclear how many have been reported missing. A search and rescue mission is underway.

Since Aug. 25, when the military in Myanmar started what it called "clearance operations" following an attack by insurgents that left several police officers and border guards dead, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have left Myanmar. Those who have made it to Bangladesh said the Myanmar military is burning down their villages in Rakhine state, The Associated Press reports, and the United Nations has accused the Myanmar military of "ethnic cleansing." Since August, at least 155 Rohingya have died in boat accidents while attempting to get to Bangladesh.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.