DHAKA: Myanmar navy has seized a boat packed with 727 people off the country's southern coast, the government says, about a week after it found a similar boat it said carried around 200 Bangladeshi migrants.

The nationality of the people on the boat was unclear, reports abc.net.au quoting an international news agency.

Myanmar's ministry of information described them as "Bengalis", using the term the government uses to describe the country's persecuted Rohingya minority as well as immigrants from Bangladesh.

A senior official at the ministry could not be immediately reached for comment.

More than 3,000 migrants have landed in Indonesia and Malaysia since Thailand launched a crackdown on human trafficking gangs this month.

About 2,600 are believed to be still adrift in boats, relief agencies have said.

** Thailand has 600 new "boat people"

BDST: 1750 HRS, MAY 29, 2015
RS