Scores of Rohingya feared drowned after boat capsizes today

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NEWSROHINGYA12 HOURS AGO
Scores of Rohingya feared drowned after boat capsizes
Police recover 15 bodies but many more are feared dead after boat carrying over 100 sinks in rough seas off Bangladesh.
Zaheena Rasheed & Adil Sakhawat
The UN says the number of Rohingya who have fled to Bangladesh has exceeded 500,000 [File: Showkat Shafi/Al Jazeera]
Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh - Scores of people, including many women and children, are feared to have drowned when a boat carrying Rohingya fleeing unrest in Myanmar sank off the coast of Bangladesh, police and witnesses have told Al Jazeera.

More than 100 Rohingya were on board the vessel when it capsized in rough seas around 5:30pm (11:30 GMT) on Thursday close to Patuwartek, some 8km off Inani Beach in Cox's Bazar District.

Seventeen survivors were found, along with 15 bodies of women and children, police said.

"The Rohingya [survivors] are saying there were more than 100 on the boat," Inspector Mohamed Kai Kislu told Al Jazeera.

"We fear we will find more bodies," he added.

READ MORE: 'Lost and found booth' reunites Rohingya families

Nurul Islam, a 22-year-old survivor from Rathetaung, said he had boarded the boat from Go Zon Dia, a Rohingya village along the Naf river, at 10pm on Wednesday (04:00 GMT on Thursday).

He confirmed that more than 100 people, mostly women and children, were on board the boat. Among them were Islam's mother, wife and infant son, as well as his sister and three children - all feared dead.

"I tried to hold on to my son, but I couldn't," he told Al Jazeera, still shocked and exhausted.