India sending fresh relief to Rohingyas in Bangladesh

India is sending a fresh consignment of relief material for Rohingya refugees who have taken shelter in Bangladesh following persecution in Myanmar.

Nearly 700 tonnes of relief material were being loaded onboard Indian Navy ship Gharial at the Kakinada deep water port in southern state of Andhra Pradesh for transportation to Chittagong in Bangladesh, our New Delhi correspondent reports.

The assistance is being provided by New Delhi for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh as part of its humanitarian aid.

The relief material to be distributed among the refugees in customised family packets, which contain essential items including food, clothes and mosquito nets, and is expected to take care of approximately 62,000 families.

Earlier this month, an Indian Air Force heavy lift transport aircraft had ferried around 55 tonnes of relief material for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

A total of 429,000 Rohingyas fled violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state since August 25, according to the Inter Sector Coordination Group, a coordinating body of the UN agencies, an estimate shared by other national and international NGOs working on the Rohingyas.