Myanmar's navy has carried out its first rescue of a migrant boat bringing 208 people to shore, an official told AFP Friday, after mounting international pressure on the nation to tackle a regional migration crisis.

"A navy ship found two boats... on May 21 while on patrol," Tin Maung Swe, a senior official in the western state of Rakhine told AFP, adding "about 200 Bengalis were on one of the boats".