52 Rohingyas use raft to make way to Cox’s Bazar

With no boats left, 52 Rohingyas have managed to make a raft with plastic jerry cans and bamboo to make their way to Bangladesh.

The group of 22 children, 17 women and 13 men reached Shah Porir Dwip in Cox’s Bazar’s Teknaf Upazila on Wednesday morning.

One of them, Nurul Kabir, said it took them four days to make the raft. They started rowing from Dangkhali village of Mongdu town at 3 in the morning and reached Teknaf at 9am.

The Naf River is as wide as three kilometre on the route. The high tide slowed their journey, said Kabir, a resident of Ching Ong village of Myanmar’s Buchidong district.

Border Guard Bangladesh or BGB personnel received them at Jaliapara.

Army and extremist Buddhists are still carrying out murders and arson in Rakhine, according to Kabir, who is aged above 30.

An army crackdown started in Myanmar’s Rakhine state on Aug 25 after Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, a Rohingya insurgent group active in northern Rakhine, attacked some police posts in the state.

Since then, more than 600,000 Rohingyas have fled the volatile state and taken shelter in Bangladesh. They have narrated to the media the tales of horrific murders, rapes and arsons being carried out in their villages.

The refugees that arrived on Wednesday claimed many Rohingyas were still suffering back in the villages.

“For now, we have gathered them at one spot. After checking them for Yaba tablets, weapons and other illegal items, we will take them to the Rohingya camps,” said BGB-2 Commander Lt Col SM Ariful Islam.

BGB has seen Rohingya youths using plastic jerry cans to swim across the Naf River to Bangladesh, he added.