ENGLISH DEYEA NEWS

By Luzi Ann Javier | Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) -- At least 300 people from Bangladesh and Myanmar are reported to be missing at sea as Thai authorities turn illegal migrants away, sending them back in boats without engines, New York Times reported.

The missing were part of 410 ethnic Rohingya minority who tried to enter Thailand and were sent out to sea onto an open barge with just four barrels of water and two sacks of rice, the newspaper reported, citing human rights groups.

About 100 of the migrants were rescued on the Andaman Islands after drifting at sea for two weeks, the newspaper said.

Thailand has detained as many as 1,000 boat people from Bangladesh and Myanmar in the past month and sent them back to sea, the newspaper said. Thailand denied the expulsions, the report said.

To contact the reporter for this story: Luzi Ann Javier in Singapore at
ljavier@bloomberg.net .