As many as 28 Rohingyas died on a trawler that drifted at sea for two months after it failed to reach Malaysia, one of survivors said following the rescue of 400 others by the Bangladesh Coast Guard.
Zobair, one of the survivors, recalled the horrors after the man along with 400 others were rescued by the Coast Guard members from Shyamlapur Halbania Para Ghat in Teknaf upazila on Wednesday night. Zobair said a trawler with 482 of them from Teknaf and Ukhiya camps left for Malaysia two months ago but they failed to enter the country and returned to Cox’s Bazar. Twenty-eight people died during this period, he said.
Teknaf Station Coast Guard Officer Lieutenant Commander M Sohel Rana said tipped-off, the Coast Guard conducted a drive and arrested them and seized a trawler. Mohammad Saiful Islam, Upazila Nirbahi Officer, said the Rohingyas returned after failing to anchor in Malaysia. Most of the Rohingyas rescued from the trawler are women and children, he added.
For years, Rohingyas from Myanmar have boarded boats organised by smugglers in the hope of finding refuge in Southeast Asia, usually making voyages during the dry season from November to March, when the waters are calm. Bangladesh hosts more than 1 million Rohingya who took shelter at the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar fleeing the persecution of the Myanmar military what the United Nations said a “genocidal intent", a claim the Buddhist-majority county denies.
