More than 500 feared dead after reports of two shipwrecks off Myanmar, UN says

More than five hundred people are feared dead after two large shipwrecks off the coast of Myanmar since late June, The Guardian reports. The vessels are believed to have departed from Myanmar carrying mostly members of the Muslim Rohingya minority. Citing the United Nations, the paper notes that the International Organization for Migration and the refugee agency UNHCR voiced alarm at reports the two boats, carrying more than five hundred people between them, may have capsized in recent days. The Rohingya, a stateless minority long persecuted in Myanmar, have for years attempted perilous sea crossings in search of safety.

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