ADVERTISEMENTREMOVE AD

Watch: The Long Journey of Rohingyas from Myanmar to Bangladesh

This exodus comes after insurgent attacks on 25 August sparked clashes with security forces.

Updated
News Videos
3 min read
Aa
Aa
Small
Aa
Medium
Aa
Large

About 146,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar after insurgent attacks on security forces on 25 August provoked a military counter-offensive, a UN source said on 6 September.

This brings the total number of Rohingya who have sought refuge in Bangladesh since October to 233,000. The earlier surge occurred when Rohingya insurgents staged similar but smaller attacks on security posts.

This comes on the heels of the Indian government announcing that 40,000 Rohingya refugees would be deported. A plea against this decision made by two Rohingya asylum seekers in Delhi is being reviewed by the Supreme Court.

ADVERTISEMENTREMOVE AD
This exodus comes after insurgent attacks on 25 August sparked clashes with security forces.
Newly arrived Rohingya refugees sit inside a shelter at the Kutupalang registered refugee camp, in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
(Photo: Reuters)
This exodus comes after insurgent attacks on 25 August sparked clashes with security forces.
A member of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) tells a Rohingya girl not to cross over to the Bangladesh side, in Cox’s Bazar.
(Photo: Reuters)
This exodus comes after insurgent attacks on 25 August sparked clashes with security forces.
Rohingya children trying to cross the Bangladesh-Myanmar border fence as they try to enter Bangladesh in Bandarban, an area under Cox’s Bazar authority, Bangladesh.
(Photo: Reuters)

“The numbers are very worrying. They are going up very quickly,” said United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokeswoman Vivian Tan.

The agency was pleading for assistance, saying it needed more land so it could set up new camps to accommodate refugees who were arriving hungry, traumatised, and in need of medical assistance.

“Most have walked for days from their villages – hiding in jungles, crossing mountains and rivers with what they could salvage from their homes,” the agency said in a statement.

“An unknown number could still be stranded at the border,” it said.

0
This exodus comes after insurgent attacks on 25 August sparked clashes with security forces.
Rohingya refugees fleeing to Bangladesh.
(Photo: Reuters)
This exodus comes after insurgent attacks on 25 August sparked clashes with security forces.
A Rohingya refugee woman carry children while walking in the water after travelling over the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Teknaf, Bangladesh.
(Photo: Reuters)
This exodus comes after insurgent attacks on 25 August sparked clashes with security forces.
A group of Rohingya refugees cross a canal after travelling over the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Teknaf, Bangladesh.
(Photo: Reuters)

In Bangladesh, aid agencies said there was an urgent need for emergency shelters and medical aid as more refugees arrive.

The UNHCR's new refugee estimate was the result of aid workers conducting new, more accurate counts that revised Monday's estimate up from 87,000, Tan said.

Roughly 1 million Rohingya were believed to have been in Myanmar previously, though estimates vary.

Tens of thousands of new refugees have been taken in at established camps that have been housing Rohingya since the 1990s, but those camps have reached “breaking point,” the UN refugee agency said. Thousands of others were now sheltering under emergency tents, in makeshift camps or out in the open wherever they found space.

ADVERTISEMENTREMOVE AD
This exodus comes after insurgent attacks on 25 August sparked clashes with security forces.
Nearly 146,000 refugees have fled Myanmar.
(Photo: Reuters)
This exodus comes after insurgent attacks on 25 August sparked clashes with security forces.
A young boy carries a child on his back after crossing the Myanmar-Bangladesh border.
(Photo: Reuters)
This exodus comes after insurgent attacks on 25 August sparked clashes with security forces.
In Bangladesh, aid agencies said there was an urgent need for emergency shelters and medical aid as more refugees arrive.
(Photo: Reuters)

(Quint Lens is a selection of the most vivid images created by our in-house pool of talent, and from across the web, created and curated with an eye on for that Quintessential twist. In this section, you can find some of the most refreshing camera and mobile photography documenting current news events, the history and everyday culture of India and the world, heartbreaking stories that can only be conveyed through pictures, celebrations and revolutions; basically, anything that simply needs to be CliQed!)

(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)

Read Latest News and Breaking News at The Quint, browse for more from videos and news-videos

Topics:  Myanmar   Rohingya Refugees   Rohingyas 

Published: 
Speaking truth to power requires allies like you.
Become a Member
3 months
12 months
12 months
Check Member Benefits
Read More
×
×