A boat carrying Rohingya capsized while entering Bangladesh off the Shah Porir Dwip coast in Teknaf upazila, Cox’s Bazar. Local fishermen rescued 18 Rohingya, while about 13 others, including the crew, are feared missing, though the rescued said some of the missing may have swum ashore elsewhere. The 18 were handed over to Teknaf-2 Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).
The boat capsized around 8 a.m. Friday in the Bay of Bengal near the Shah Porir Dwip West Para boat jetty.
A local fisherman, Enayet, said the boat, carrying 31 people, capsized near the coast because of bad weather and a rough sea, and that fishermen mounted an immediate rescue and pulled out 18 people alive.
Sabrang union parishad acting chairman Abdul Mannan said the people had been fleeing to Bangladesh for shelter amid the ongoing fighting between Myanmar’s government forces and the Arakan Army, and that the boat met with the accident after reaching the coast.
Nurul Amin, a relative of some of the rescued, claimed that several of them had gone from Bangladesh’s Rohingya camps to Myanmar and taken part in fighting against the Arakan Army, and were trying to return to Bangladesh when the accident happened. His account could not be independently verified.
Around 5 p.m. Friday, the BGB handed the rescued Rohingya over to Teknaf Model Police. Police said legal proceedings were under way.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report