Around 15,000 Rohingya are fighting hunger, thirst and illness due to being marooned at Daungkhali Char in Myanmar’s Maungdaw Township for the past two weeks.
Many of the stricken Rohingya are taking extraordinary risks to leave the island - located near the Teknaf upazila of Cox’s Bazar - as Bangladesh has suspended all boat traffic on the Naf River.
Many desperate refugees, unable to tolerate hunger and thirst, are trying to cross the river using makeshift rafts or are swimming across using only plastic containers to stay afloat.
In the past two days, 182 Rohingya people, including 57 women and 83 children, have crossed the river on makeshift rafts. Another 62 Rohingya youths had swam across the river with plastic containers the previous week.
However, around 200 Rohingya have been killed while attempting to cross the Naf River by boats, trawlers and by swimming so far.
Border Guard Bangladesh Tenkaf-2 Commanding Officer Lt Col SM Ariful Islam told the Dhaka Tribune: “As there is an embargo on all types of water vessel movements on the Naf River due to the unrest in the border region, the Rohingya are now crossing the river in riskier ways.”
Refugees who recently entered Bangladesh from Daungkhali Char, claimed that the Myanmar Army and the local Mogh people are still torturing the Rohingya in Rakhine state by seizing their crops and torching their properties, and by forcing them to accept National Verification Cards.
They added that there was no food or drinking water available on the island.
Mohammad Hasan, a native of Buthidaung who recently arrived in Bangladesh, told the Dhaka Tribune of his harrowing escape from the little island.
He said they waited for a boat at Daungkhali Char for 20 days.
On the 18th day, they ran out of food, and survived only by drinking water. Fearing death from starvation, he built a makeshift raft for crossing the Naf River to enter Bangladesh.
Another Rohingya refugee, Nurul Kabir from Maungdaw, claimed that it took him more than six hours to cross the five kilometres of river on a raft made of bamboo stalks and plastic containers.
Juhra Khatun, a Rohingya woman from Rathedaung, said she had no money to pay for her trip across the river. “A boat was willing to take us, but I could not afford the fare. So, I used a raft,” she said.
“They [Myanmar forces] set fire to my home, so I took my children and fled to Bangladesh with barely anything of value. I took a great risk crossing the river on a raft, because I had to save my children.”
The initial mass exodus of Rohingya refugees began in late August and gradually slowed down from the first week of September this year. However, the influx spiked again from mid-October, and continues unabated to this day.
According to Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission, about 625,000 Rohingya refugees entered Bangladesh from August 25 to November 8, fleeing a brutal military campaign in Rakhine state.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
