The waves were rough and the wind was strong as Jamal majhi's boat struggled to stay afloat. Inside, 180 people including women and children huddled together praying for their lives. The boat was small, in poor condition and very overcrowded. Jamal had earlier pleaded with Kefayetullah, the skipper of an accompanying boat carrying 104 Rohingya, to take his two young children onto his boat. Kefayetullah refused. At around 3am, on December 8, 2022, Jamal's boat sank claiming the lives of all on board.
With the drowning of Jamal's human cargo, the number of Rohingya refugees who have died on sea crossings in 2022 now comes close to 400, one of the highest tolls in recent years. According to UNHCR, at least 12 boats are known to have tried to cross the seas from Bangladesh and Myanmar for Thailand and Indonesia, with the ultimate destination being Malaysia.
The boats experienced vastly different outcomes. Some boats suffered from a lack of food and water, leading to the death of refugees onboard. One boat was rescued by Haduco, a Vietnamese company, but the refugees were subsequently turned over to the Myanmar navy. Another boat washed up in Aceh, Indonesia on December 26, after being lost at sea for weeks. Upon arriving on shore, distressing scenes were witnessed as the refugees disembarked. This boat received assistance from the Indian Navy on two occasions. A boat carrying 104 Rohingya, skippered by Kefayetullah, was rescued by the Sri Lankans. Jamal's own boat encountered mechanical problems and started taking on water early in the voyage and perished.
Jamal, a registered refugee of Nayapara camp, purchased a cheap but unreliable boat in haste. He apparently had very little time before his date of departure. He had been hired by four parties - one from Canada, one from North America, one from Indonesia, and another from Malaysia - to transport their relatives. Various sources say that he was given Tk70 lakh to buy a boat, Tk20 lakh for himself and about Tk5 lakh for food stuff for the journey. A satellite phone was purchased in North America and sent to him.
The reason for Jamal's haste was explained by Bulbul, Jamal's sister and a resident of Kutupalong, during a filmed interview. She stated that Jamal was in danger and needed to quickly find a way to transport not only the hired parties' relatives, but also his own family of 17 people. It was important for Jamal to find a suitable vessel as soon as possible, but unfortunately he did not have enough time to purchase a suitable one. Bulbul said that: “My brother Jamal did not want to get into the Yaba business. His boss, Mizan, tried to force this upon him.” She explained that Jamal was a simple fishermen but the boat owner wanted him to engage in smuggling Yaba from Myanmar. Mizan had beaten him and “got my brother to sign an IOU of Tk30 lakh.”
To attract people looking to leave Bangladesh, Jamal recorded a video of his boat and shared it with people in Nayapara block H, where he was a familiar face. According to several families who have lost relatives in the disaster, they did not suspect anything was amiss with Jamal's offer to transport them because he had successfully completed the trip five times before without any issues. Additionally, the fact that he was bringing his own family along on the trip gave people confidence in his ability to ensure a safe journey. Jamal's contractors had not told him to take additional people. Jamal decided that the opportunity was too good to miss and sold the hope of a better life to the people of Block H, Nayapara and to other Rohingya in other camps. His accomplice, Salamot, helped to recruit more people from Kutupalong. Refugees paid upwards of Tk1.2 lakh per family for the trip.
On November 25, Jamal left Nayapara. He had gathered his “cargo” in Swapor Deep. Careful to avoid the Border Guard and Coast Guard, he set sail on November 27. They stayed one night in St Martins island and then set sail for their destination on November 29.
Jamal was also apprehensive about running into naval enforcement agencies of Myanmar and therefore took an unusual route to avoid the coast of Myanmar. He was aware of a spate of cases where boats carrying Rohingya had been intercepted by junta forces in the months leading up to his trip. The last thing he wanted was his entire family arrested and imprisoned.
Shortly after he started his journey, Jamal encountered a boat that was being piloted by an inexperienced skipper, named Kefayetullah. The man who was supposed to skipper the boat had run into trouble with Bangladesh border forces and could not make it on board. Kefayetullah took the helm but had become lost and was unsure of the navigation direction to Indonesia. His boat was not even equipped with a satellite phone. Kefayetullah took the decision to follow Jamal, who not only had a satellite phone but also knew the way. This decision ultimately led to the rescue of Kefayetullah's boat by the Sri Lankan navy.
Jamal remained in touch with his connections via satellite phone. All seemed to be fine until December 7. The boat started taking water. Settara, a woman on board the vessel was in a state of panic as she made the last phone call to her husband in Malaysia at 11am Bangladesh time. In a haunting audio recording made by Settara's husband, Settara says: “Please pray for us. We are in a storm. We are going to sink.” Her husband tries to find out their location. Settara first says “Indonesia” and then corrects herself and says “India.” She then appeals again for him to pray for her before she falls silent. Her husband exhales: “Oh Allah.”
Gotok Mason, the Indonesian party that hired Jamal, can be heard in a separate recording trying to convince Jamal and his son Babul to remain in Indian waters and turn themselves over to the Indian Navy instead of the Sri Lankan navy. Mason urgently repeats these requests to the pair while they are on the boat.
We spoke to Sodullah, one of the Rohingya rescued by the Sri Lankan navy. He told us that Jamal majhi frantically tried to keep his vessel afloat. He knew that time was running out. Desperate to save his two young children, he spoke to Kefayetullah on the other boat and pleaded with him to take his youngest children aboard to safety. But Kefayetullah was resolute, stating that he couldn't just ignore the other people in need and only rescue two individuals. Despite the father's pleas, Kefayetullah was unable to make an exception and the children were left on the doomed boat as it went down with all hands.
Speaking to Kefayetullah's nephew, Romollo, in Malaysia, there seemed to be another tragic twist in the story. Kefayetullah himself had a blood relative on board the doomed boat. Romollo's nephew said: “My uncle did not rescue him either because how can he just take one person?”
On the early morning of December 8, Jamal's boat finally succumbed to the waves after a gruelling 12 hours of struggling. Kefayettulah and his crew, who were nearby in their own boat, witnessed the sinking. In the poor light, Sodullah believed he saw about 25 people clinging to an overturned boat, but he couldn't be certain. Kefayettulah and his crew threw seven water drums overboard in an effort to aid any survivors. However, after just a few minutes, they could no longer see or hear anything. Their boat eventually sailed away and was rescued by the Sri Lankan Navy on December 18.
Many of the families of the 180 victims are still in the dark about what happened to the boat their loved ones were traveling on. Despite their desperate pleas for information from the traffickers, they have received no news about the fate of their relatives. To make matters worse, they have been misled by conflicting reports and false assurances, leaving them feeling helpless. As the days pass, hope fades and the families are left to grapple with the heartbreaking uncertainty of not knowing whether their loved ones are alive or dead. The lack of transparency and honesty from the traffickers only adds to their grief and turmoil.