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Thousands of refugees abandoned crossing Bay of Bengal in 2015: UNHCR

Xinhua, February 24, 2016 Adjust font size:

Some 370 refugees and migrants died and thousands more were left abandoned at sea by people smugglers last year as they crossed the Bay of Bengal, according to a new report published by the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) Tuesday.

"An estimated 33,600 refugees and migrants of various nationalities took to smugglers' boats (in Southeast Asia) in 2015," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily press briefing here.

"The bulk of the passengers were Rohingya and Bangladeshi nationals in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea," he said, citing information from the UN refugee agency.

The UNHCR report found that hundreds of refugees died before reaching land, primarily from starvation, dehydration, disease, and cruelty at the hands of human smugglers, rather than drowning.

However, the number of refugees making the dangerous journey dropped sharply in the second-half of 2015, said Dujarric. The report found that the huge movement of refugees in the first months of 2016 "all but disappeared" after approximately 5,000 refugees and migrants were left abandoned at sea in May.

The sharp decrease can also be attributed to "the discovery of mass graves along the Thailand-Malaysia land border and government crackdowns on smuggling networks," said Dujarric.

The report showed that the Mediterranean was not the only deadly sea crossing for refugees in 2015, Dujarric said.

Although the European refugee crisis has received significant attention, Dujarric noted that the "vast majority of refugees are being hosted in developing countries, in countries in Africa, in Asia and in the Middle East."

The responsibility to help refugees is global, he added. Enditem