More than 500 persons are feared dead after reports of two large shipwrecks off the coast of Myanmar since late June, the United Nations’ refugee and migration agencies said on Thursday.

The International Organization for Migration and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said that they are concerned by reports that two boats carrying the persons may have capsized in recent days.

The persons on board the boats are mostly Rohingya, reportedly including some who had travelled from refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, the agencies said.

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The UN agencies cited preliminary information as having indicated that the vessels had departed from Myanmar’s Rakhine state in late June.

One of the boats, believed to be having about 250 persons on board, lost contact shortly after departure. The second boat, reported to be having about 280 persons on board, is believed to have sunk off Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady coast on July 8.

The maritime incidents and casualties are yet to be formally confirmed, the agencies said.

The journeys had taken place beyond the regular sailing season, at a time when the maritime conditions are typically more hazardous. Recent torrential rain and flooding in the region “have further increased the risks associated with such sea movements”, the agencies said.

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Hundreds of thousands of persons from the ethnic Rohingya community have been fleeing into Bangladesh since 2017 after a violent crackdown by the Myanmar government in the mid-2010s. More than a million Rohingya refugees are currently living in Bangladesh.

On Thursday, the agencies said that nearly 300 persons were reported to be missing or have died in the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal this year. The persons include Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi citizens.

About 250 of them, mostly Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshis, had been feared missing in April after their boat capsized in the Andaman Sea.

Written by Nachiket Deuskar. Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.