Rescued 140 Malaysia-bound men say their boat was stranded for 10 days
- The trawler that carried Malaysia-bound passengers, six of whom were killed with many others injured by human trafficking brokers, return to St Martin’s Island yesterday
At least six people were killed and 140 others injured, of them 27 hit by bullets, when armed traffickers fired on a trawler carrying illegal Malaysia-bound passengers in the Bay of Bengal near the St Martin’s Island yesterday.
The passengers caught four traffickers, including Myanmar and Thailand nationals, while the rest managed to flee on boats, said Commander AKM Maruf Hassan, intelligence officer of the Bangladesh Coast Guard.
Members of the Coast Guard recovered five dead bodies while they suspect the body of another illegal migrants was washed away after he had received bullets and fallen into the sea.
Four of the five dead bodies were identified as Selim, 19, Saiful, 40, Rubel, 35, and Monir, 30.
A total of 318 Bangladeshis, two Thai nationals and one from Myanmar were in the Malaysia-bound trawler, coast guard sources said. Of the Bangladeshi passengers, most were inhabitants of Sonapur and Teknaf.
Quoting some rescued passengers, Maruf said the traffickers had begun firing on the passengers during a clash between the two groups around 12 noon.
“The clash erupted when the passengers asked the traffickers to return to the St Martin’s Island as the trawler had remained stranded in the Bay for some 10 days,” he told the Dhaka Tribune. Sources said the trawler’s engine had stopped working on its way to Malaysia, while the victims faced severe food shortage during the ordeal.
However, another source said the trawler had remained stranded having been intercepted by the Myanmar Border Guard Police near Cheetah Hill.
Maruf also said no government officials or forces of Myanmar was involved in the killing, adding that the traffickers were equipped with firearms.
When contacted, Coast Guard Teknaf Station Commander Kazi Harunur Rashid said: “Five bodies were recovered from the trawler and around 40 were rescued of whom 27 were hit by bullets. The others are also being rescued.”
Maruf said the Coast Guard members had arrived on the scene with additional boats and brought back the deceased and injured passengers, and also the detained traffickers, to the St Martin’s Island.
The trawler was carrying over 300 passengers, he said, adding: “According to locals, some of the stranded passengers sought help from their relatives over phone.”
Maruf said the dead bodies, injured passengers and the detained traffickers were handed over to local police.
Tofayel Ahmed, additional superintendent of police in Cox’s Bazar, said they had received five bodies and 40 injured men around 6pm and the injured were admitted to the 10-bed hospital on the island.
According to Coast Guard officials, they had reached the trawler around 3pm and brought it back to the island around 6pm.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
