The United Nations has said 500 people are feared dead after two large shipwrecks involving Rohingya refugees off the coast of Myanmar since late June.

In a statement on Thursday, the UN said that two boats carrying more than 500 people may have capsized off the coast of Myanmar in recent days.

“Two vessels in question departed from war-torn Myanmar’s Rakhine state in late June, with mainly members of the country’s mostly Muslim Rohingya minority onboard,” the statement said.

The UN said one boat, believed to have been carrying about 250 people, lost contact shortly after departure.

According to the organisation, some of those on board travelled from the sprawling refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, where more than one million Rohingya refugees who fled violence in Rakhine State live in overcrowded and difficult conditions.

A second boat, reportedly carrying about 280 people, is believed to have sunk off Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady coast on July 8.

“While the incidents and casualty figures have yet to be officially confirmed, UNHCR and IOM are gravely concerned by the potentially devastating loss of life,” the statement said.