Thousands flee as Cyclone Mocha approaches Myanmar and Bangladesh

TOPSHOT - People evacuate in Sittwe in Myanmar's Rakhine state on May 13, 2023, ahead of the landfall of Cyclone Mocha. Cyclone Mocha is expected to make landfall on May 14 between Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh, where nearly one million Rohingya refugees live in camps largely made up of flimsy shelters, and Sittwe on Myanmar's western Rakhine coast. (Photo by SAI Aung MAIN / AFP)

SITTWE, Myanmar, May 13, 2023 (AFP) : Lapyae Ko with Mohammad Mazed and Tanbirul Miraj Ripon in Teknaf Thousands fled Myanmar's west coast and officials in neighbouring Bangladesh raced to evacuate Rohingya refugees on Saturday as the most powerful cyclone in the region for over a decade churned across the Bay of Bengal.

Cyclone Mocha was packing winds of up to 220 kilometres per hour (136 miles per hour), according to India's meteorological office, equivalent to a category four hurricane.