270,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar, U.N. Says

The number of Rohingya who have fled fighting in western Myanmar has climbed sharply to 270,000, placing a huge strain on camps in Bangladesh where they are seeking shelter, the United Nations refugee agency said Friday.

On Thursday, the United Nations agency said that about 164,000 Rohingya had fled since fighting broke out in late August.

Two refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar in southeast Bangladesh that were already home to nearly 34,000 Rohingya “are now bursting at the seams,” Duniya Aslam Khan, a spokeswoman for the refugee agency, said in a statement.

“The limited shelter capacity is already exhausted,” she said. “Refugees are now squatting in makeshift shelters that have mushroomed along the road and on available land in the Ukhiya and Teknaf areas.”