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

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."

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Vivian Tan said the number had jumped from an estimate of 164,000 on Thursday because the agency had found new pockets of refugees in border areas.

"This does not necessarily reflect fresh arrivals within the past 24 hours but that we have identified more people in different areas that we were not aware of before," she said.

"The numbers are so alarming - it really means that we have to step up our response and that the situation in Myanmar has to be addressed urgently."