At least 15 women and children drowned and more than 50 others were missing after a boat overloaded with Rohingya refugees sank off southern Bangladesh as it tried to reach Malaysia Tuesday, officials said. Some 138 people — mainly women and children — were packed on a trawler barely 13 meters long, trying to cross the Bay of Bengal, a coast guard spokesman told Agence France-Presse (AFP). “It sank because of overloading. The boat was meant to carry maximum 50 people. The boat was also loaded with some cargo,” another coast guard spokesman, Hamidul Islam, added.

Bangladesh boat capsizes, 15 killed. (2020, February 13). The Manila Times, p. B9.