UNHCR says 270,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar in past two weeks

GENEVA - 8 September 2017: An estimated 270,000 Rohingya refugees have fled Myanmar in the past two weeks and sought refuge in Bangladesh, where two existing refugee camps are "bursting at the seams", the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said on Friday.

"The limited shelter capacity is already exhausted. Refugees are now squatting in makeshift shelters that have mushroomed along the road and on available land in the Ukhiya and Teknaf areas," UNHCR said in a briefing note for reporters in Geneva.

"The vast majority are women, including mothers with newborn babies, families with children. They arrive in poor condition, exhausted, hungry and desperate for shelter."