Myanmar refugees adrift, turned back by Bangladesh: U.N

GENEVA (Reuters) - An unknown number of people fleeing violence in Myanmar's troubled Rakhine region are adrift in boats on the Naf River and some have been turned back by Bangladesh authorities, the United Nations refugee agency said on Friday.

"The UN refugee agency has first-hand, credible accounts of boats from Myanmar not being enabled to access Bangladeshi territory. These reports indicate women, children and some wounded are onboard," the Geneva-based agency said in a statement.

U.N. officials who reached Rakhine this week saw a number of "smoldering villages", it said. Tens of thousands of displaced Muslim Rohingyas and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists were in need of food, water and shelter in northwestern Myanmar on Thursday after fleeing the country's worst sectarian clashes in years.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Louise Ireland)