Myanmar’s navy has denied a group of journalists access to a remote island where over 700 migrants are reportedly held after being rescued at sea last week.

The journalists, who tried to approach Thamee Hla Island at the mouth of the Irrawaddy River, were turned around by navy patrol vessels on Sunday. Reports say authorities ordered them to delete any footage on their memory cards.

Those who were returned said they had been asked to sign documents based on which they should not try to make the journey again.

Myanmar’s authorities say they found 727 people, including 74 women and 45 children, drifting in a boat off Myanmar’s coast, and took them to the remote island earlier this month. Reporters have since been trying to approach them.

The 727 rescued migrants are among boatloads of people from Bangladesh and the oppressed Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar who have recently been seeking to reach Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

The Rohingya Muslims witness extensive discrimination and restrictions in Myanmar, including controls on their movements, family size and access to jobs. Many of the Muslims now live in camps for the displaced, three years after scores of them lost their lives in acts of violence by extremists from the Buddhist majority. The turmoil forced more people to flee on boats.

Myanmar’s government dismisses extensive criticism that its treatment of the Rohingya is one of the reasons behind the current exodus of the migrants.

The government in Myanmar refuses to recognize the Rohingya minority as citizens and insists they are “illegal” immigrants, even though they have lived in the country for centuries.

MR/HSN/HJL