Crisis looms as nearly 125,000 refugees flood into Bangladesh

Nearly 125,000 mostly Rohingya refugees have entered Bangladesh since a fresh upsurge of violence in Myanmar on August 25, the United Nations said on Tuesday, as fears grow of a humanitarian crisis in the overstretched camps.

The UN said 123,600 had crossed the border in the past 11 days from Myanmar's violence-wracked Rakhine state.

Their arrival has raised fears of a fresh humanitarian disaster as already crowded camps in Bangladesh -- home to around 400,000 Rohingya refugees before the latest crisis -- struggle to cope with the influx.

Many are sleeping in the open air and are in dire need of food and water after walking for days to reach safety, the UN's main coordinator in Bangladesh said in a report.

"There is an urgent need for emergency shelters and for land to build these shelters on," said Vivian Tan, spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency.

"These people have walked for days. Some of them haven't eaten for days since they left. They survived on rain water and ground water."

Bangladesh initially tried to block the refugees, stepping up border patrols and pushing some back into Myanmar.

But in recent days they appear to have largely given up trying to prevent an influx that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said Tuesday was a "big burden" for Bangladesh.

(AFP)