Migrant boat still being held off Myanmar coast - government ‎

More than 700 migrants found packed aboard an overcrowded boat in the Andaman Sea were still being held offshore by Myanmar's navy on Monday, more than three days after the converted fishing vessel was intercepted off the country's coast.   "The government is checking their identity, asking what they want to do and where they want to go," government spokesman Ye Htut told Reuters, without providing further details of the boat's location.   Government officials have been tight-lipped about the identities of 727 migrants on the overcrowded fishing boat, found drifting and taking on water early Friday, as well as their eventual destination.  

Journalists from Reuters and other foreign media were briefly detained and turned back to land after ‎approaching the boat on Sunday, as it was seen surrounded by navy patrol vessels.  Navy officials made ‎journalists delete photographs and footage of the boat, hand over their camera memory cards or sign documents saying ‎they ‎would not try to make the journey again.‎  ‎At one stage a sailor pointed a rifle at ‎reporters‎.

Myanmar's government says the Rohingya Muslims are illegal migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh, and has denied it is to blame for a crisis that has seen more than 4,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshi ‎"boat people" arrive across Southeast Asia in recent weeks.‎  The migrants were abandoned at sea by human traffickers after Thailand launched a crackdown on the smugglers in early May.‎ (Source: AP/Reuters)