A BOAT carrying 150 Rohingya refugees which has been drifting without power, food or water for two weeks needs urgent help, the United Nations said yesterday.

A number of passengers, including children, have already died, according to people on board the boat in the Andaman Sea in south-east Asia.

The small fishing boat, which has little shelter, left southern Bangladesh last month and has been at sea for more than three weeks after the engine failed a few days after departure.