GENEVA (Sputnik) — The number of Rohingya refugees who have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh has reached 391,000, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday.
"Estimated new arrivals have reached 391,000 and there is no sign of the flow of people drying up, as smoke from burning villages in Myanmar’s North Rakhine State remains clearly visible from the Cox’s Bazar district [of Bangladesh]," the press service said in a statement.
The IOM noted that thousands of the new arrivals were on the way toward makeshift settlements on the border, being "exhausted, hungry and often traumatized by the violence that they have seen." They are forced to exist there in extreme living conditions, often with no food and clean water or basic services, according to the press release.
The flow #Rohingya fleeing across the border from Myanmar into Bangladesh is unprecedented in volume & speed https://t.co/FpuItT54kk
— IOM (@UNmigration) 14 сентября 2017 г.
On Thursday, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced that it had sent to Cox’s Bazar trucks with emergency aid, sanitation and hygiene supplies for thousands of Rohingya children.
We need a coordinated response among agencies bringing aid to nearly 400,000 destitute people fleeing #Myanmar https://t.co/625HIaVJPe pic.twitter.com/wei6jow4lM
— IOM (@UNmigration) 15 сентября 2017 г.
In late August, Muslim insurgents of Rohingya origin attacked security posts in Rakhine state. The attacks prompted a harsh response from the authorities. Hundreds of people have died in the continued clashes, while thousands have been forced to flee.
