Migrant boat still being held off Myanmar coast

More than 700 migrants found packed aboard an overcrowded boat in the Andaman Sea are still being held offshore by Myanmar’s navy, more than three days after the converted fishing vessel was intercepted off the country’s coast. Government officials have been tight-lipped about the identities of 727 migrants on the overcrowded boat, found drifting and taking on water early Friday, as well as their eventual destination. The government initially labeled the migrants “Bengalis”, a term used to refer to both Bangladeshis and Rohingya Muslims, a largely stateless minority in Myanmar that the government refuses to refer to by name. Officials later said they believed most of those on board were from Bangladesh.

The government is checking their identity, asking what they want to do and where they want to go…Usually, most of them want to go back to Bangladesh, so we will arrange according to their wishes.

Ye Htut, Government spokesman

Myanmar has come under harsh criticism for its treatment of Rohingya people but the country denies any wrong doing. The migrants were abandoned at sea by people smugglers after Thailand launched a crackdown on trafficking in early May. A spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department said the U.S. had asked Myanmar to allow the immediate disembarkation of and provision of humanitarian assistance to the migrants. U.S. President Barack Obama told young Asians invited to the White House on Monday that Myanmar needed to end discrimination against Rohingya if it wanted to be successful in its transition to a democracy, something he has sought to make a legacy of his presidency.

World Rohingya