23 saved, 50 missing in Bangladesh boat accident

Officials said Wednesday that 23 people were rescued after an overcrowded boat capsized off the Bangladesh coast, but about 50 others remained missing.

The boat was reportedly carrying about 70 illegal migrants, mostly Rohingya Muslims, to Malaysia when it sank in the Bay of Bengal early Wednesday.

Border commander Lt. Col. Zahid Hossain said no bodies had been recovered so far, but he quoted several survivors as saying they saw some bodies after the boat sank off Bangladesh's Teknaf coast, 320 kilometers (200 miles) south of the capital Dhaka.

Another coast guard official Lt. Badruddoza said survivors said they were traveling to look for jobs in Malaysia.

The officials said other fishing boats rescued many of the survivors.

Dangerous attempts to go abroad for work _ often through unscrupulous human traffickers _ have lured poor youths in recent years, with local reports saying stateless Rohingya people living in Bangladesh often attempt the risky trips.

Local media reported that last month another boat carrying more than 100 people sank in the Bay of Bengal. Authorities have not confirmed those reports but police launched an investigation after several people filed complaints saying they survived the accident on the trip by a gang of human traffickers.

More than 25,000 Rohingya people live in two official camps run jointly by the government and the United Nations in Cox's Bazar. But hundreds of thousands of others live outside the camps after crossing the border from Myanmar in recent years for economic reasons or because of alleged persecution by Myanmar's military junta. (AP)