More than 600 trafficking victims from Burma and Bangladesh have been rescued in the Bay of Bengal, a Bangladeshi navy spokesman in Dhaka said on Tuesday.

Many of those on board are thought to be Rohingya Muslims.

Large populations of stateless Rohingyas remain in displacement camps in Burma's western Arakan State, and neighbouring Bangladesh.

NGO the Arakan Project says traffickers pose a serious risk to the persecuted minority.