Mahasen in Bay of Bengal

[DandyDon]

From Tropical Cyclone Mahasen : Tracking Map : Weather Underground

 

[DandyDon]

Some areas in the path are poorly prepared, and tragedies are occurring...

BBC News - Rohingya boat sinks off west Burma

 

[Quero]

These Rohingya boats are rickety anyway. They sink even without weather problems, go adrift when their fuel runs out, etc. Hundreds of lives have been lost as the Rohingya refugees flee religious oppression in Burma. They are not considered Burmese citizens by the Burmese government because of their ethnicity. They are truly a stateless people. To escape ethnic cleansing, involving whole villages of Rohingya, they have massed at the Burma border in neighboring Bangladesh or on the coastline of Rakhine state in camps awaiting an opportunity to take to the sea in hopes of reaching Thailand (a country that doesn't want them and has pushed them back out of Thai waters after furnishing food, water and fuel--calling this action "helping on"), or Malaysia (another country that is reluctant to take them in). It's a true tragedy that is only being exacerbated by this storm, not caused by it.