For three months, international aid agencies made repeated appeals to India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Malaysia for information on those on the boat.

In Chittagong, thousands of supporters of an Islamist group that accuses Modi of alienating Muslims in India streamed out of mosques after prayers to register their protest against his visit.

Video images showed a crowd comprising mostly women and children, some stick-thin and unable to stand, being helped to shore.

Public health officials in the US have aslo recommended against using e-cigarettes after 12 deaths and 805 cases of illnesses linked to e-cigarette use were reported.

Police said a faction of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was involved in organising the cafe attack.

The move came following an alleged spike in violent crime in the southern district of Cox's Bazar, where more than one million Rohingya are sheltered.

Large building fires are relatively common in impoverished Bangladesh, due in part to lax regulations, and have killed hundreds of people in recent years.

Prim Minister Sheikh Hasina's ruling alliance won more than 90% of the seats contested in Sunday's election, which was marred by accusations of ballot stuffing, voter intimidation and violence that killed at least 19 people.

Hasina's ruling alliance won more than 90% of the seats contested in Sunday's election, which was marred by accusations of ballot stuffing, voter intimidation and violence that killed at least 17 people.

More than 700,000 Rohingya refugees crossed from the west of mostly Buddhist Myanmar into Bangladesh from August last year when Rohingya insurgent attacks on the Myanmar security forces triggered a sweeping military response.

Shahidul Alam's plea for bail was turned down by a Bangladesh court on Tuesday for spreading "propaganda and false information" during wide anti-government student protests over corruption and authoritarian rule.

More than 700,000 Rohingya refugees crossed from the west of mostly Buddhist Myanmar into Bangladesh from August last year when Rohingya insurgent attacks on the Myanmar security forces triggered a sweeping military response.

The meeting in Myanmar's capital Naypyitaw was the first for a joint working group set up to hammer out the details of the November repatriation agreement.

Bangladesh said Myanmar drones and helicopters had violated its air space three times in the last week, warning that such "provocative acts may lead to unwarranted consequences".

Bangladeshi border guards on Thursday recovered the bodies of 20 Rohingya women and children whose boat capsized as they fled Myanmar.

"Many of those fleeing are women and children, some of whom are wounded," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

The flight of large numbers of Muslim Rohingya and Buddhist civilians from the northern part of Myanmar's Rakhine state was triggered by coordinated attacks by Rohingya insurgents.

Thousands of Rohingya refugees took shelter in the ruins of their camps and waited for help after a night in the rain.

Bangladesh has seen a rise in attacks on foreigners, liberals and religious minorities, with al Qaeda and ISIS claiming responsibility but the government blaming domestic militants instead.