Another boat intercepted by Myanmar Navy

Myanmar’s navy has intercepted a boat packed with 727 people off the country’s southern coast, about a week after it found a similar vessel carrying around 200 migrants.

Most of those on board this boat were from Bangladesh, a senior official from the president’s office, Zaw Htay, told Reuters news agency on Friday.

Myanmar’s Ministry of Information described them as “Bengalis”, using the term the government uses to describe the country’s persecuted Muslim Rohingya minority as well as people from Bangladesh.

Earlier in the day, at a regional crisis meeting in Thailand aimed at tackling the Southeast Asian migrant crisis, Myanmar insisted it was not to blame for Southeast Asia’s latest influx of “boat people”.

The UN says thousands of vulnerable migrants remained adrift at sea and need urgent rescue.

The Rohingya people of Myanmar have been subject to persecution over the years from Myanmar and the past few months has seen a high rate of migration to other Asian countries.