Teknaf, Bangladesh: Five Rohingya passengers were missing after chasing by Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) while a passengers’ boat crossing Naff River from Nattong Para point to Burma on September 13, said a local fisherman of Maungdaw Township on condition of anonymity.
“On September 13, at about 7:20 pm, a small passenger row boat with 17-passenger including two women, one child and 14 men were crossing the Naff River, from Nattong Para of Teknaf, Bangladesh to Burma. An engine boat of BGB, formerly known BDR (Bangladesh Rifles), suddenly chased the passenger boat and sank in the river, at about 7:35 pm.”
In accident, one child and four men including one Molana (religious leader) were missing, but the rest 12 passengers were rescued by other fishing trawlers which were fishing in the Naff River, the fisherman more added.
“One child dead body was floating near the jetty of Sharpuri Dip, found by local and nobody claimed the dead body. May be, it is the child who was missing on September 13.”
These passengers came to Bangladesh for medical treatment and returned to Burma from Nattong Para point or Palong Para point through Anwar, Sayed Alam and Farid, who are working with authority. The three men collected money from those passengers but they did not pass it to the BGB authority. They collected Taka 50 per each passenger, said a passenger who crosses the border from this point.
The BGB personnel were very angry with the agents for not paying their share, so BGB chased the passenger boat and attacked it from central point. As a result, the passenger boat was broken into two parts and was sunk in the river where five passengers were missing, said a local fisherman from Bangladesh side preferring not to be named.
The behavior of the BGB personnel is a brutal attack to the innocent Rohingya passengers as they had already given gate pass for the BGB men. This is the fault of the agents of BGB. But, the innocent Rohingyas have been given their lives for the BGB’s unruly attack by their big engine boat, said a close relative of one of the victims.
The passengers are from Pran Pru village, Kyauk Hla Gaar village tract of Maungdaw Township and some are from Buthidaung Township, according to a villager from Maungdaw north who denied to be named. The missing passengers’ address is still unknown.
