DHAKA (Reuters) – More than 1,600 Rohingya refugees sailed on Friday from Bangladesh’s southern port of Chittagong for the remote island of Bhasan Char in the Bay of Bengal, a naval official said.
The south Asian nation says moving the refugees will ease chronic overcrowding in camps that are home to more than 1 million Rohingya, members of a Muslim minority who have fled neighbouring Myanmar.
But refugees and humanitarian workers say have some of the Rohingya had been co-erced, despite government assertions that none would be forced to go.
The naval official said the Rohingya were aboard seven boats, with two more carrying supplies.
(Reporting by Ruma Paul; Writing by Matthew Tostevin; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
