More than 500 Rohingya vanished at sea - what happened?

An estimated 600,000 Rohingyas remain in Rakhine State, one quarter confined to miserable internally displaced people (IDP) camps, the rest surviving in precarious communities which have been caught in between the warring sides. The military junta has been subjecting them to forced conscription. The Arakan Army, which claims to represent the ethnic Rakhine population, distrusts Rohingyas and is accused of serious human rights violations against them.With such dire prospects, the Rohingyas' only hope is to get out to another country.The 200,000 Rohingyas already living in Malaysia make that the most appealing destination. This has created a lucrative business opportunity for people smugglers, who now have networks in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.The business model is simple: pack as many people as possible into the boats, find the best way of moving them to Malaysia without detection by the authorities, and ensure their families pay the fee which ranges from $2,000 to $4,000 fee (£1,500 to £3,000). Those whose families fail to pay are detained and beaten, or worse, videos of their suffering sent to persuade their relatives to transfer the required fee.Over the years the routes have changed, but the brutality of this human trade has not.Back in 2015 the Thai government, embarrassed by its poor reputation for human trafficking, began blocking the road routes used by the smugglers and closing the primitive transit camps in mangrove swamps and rubber plantations where traffickers held their captives until sufficient payments were made.