Bangladesh-Myanmar border (CNN) At first they are just specks in the distance, blobs of color bobbing on the water. But as they get closer, you can make out more, a tangle of human forms huddled on rafts, paddling furiously to cross the water.

The rafts are crudely made from jerrycans and plastic bottles, held together with bamboo. Squinting into the hot noon sun, I can see one man has improvised an oar, using a stick with a pan tied to the end.

We are at the mouth of the Naf River, which separates Myanmar from Bangladesh. The mass of humanity paddling towards us are among the hundreds of Rohingya Muslims who attempt this crossing every day. The United Nations says that scores have died trying. And yet, the situation on the other side of the water is so desperate that the risk does not deter them.

Every day, hundreds of Rohingya try to reach the safety of Bangladesh's shores on rafts crudely made of plastic and bamboo.

who have arrived since late August. Another As they get closer, Bangladeshi border guards standing on the beach begin furiously blowing their whistles and waving the rafts down the shore -- they are not welcome here. This country's resources have been stretched thin by the more than 615,000 Rohingya who have arrived since late August. Another 200,000 are expected in the coming weeks.

We wade out into the muddy, warm water to try to talk to them. Up close, it becomes clear that most of them are women and children. Many of the men have been killed or imprisoned in Myanmar, they say.

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