Burma border police (Hluntin) arrested 31 people after a small boat carrying 150 people capsized in the mouth of the Naf River near Shilkhali (Kyauk Chaung) in the Bay of Bengal. Ten people were killed when the boat ferrying them to a larger vessel bound for Malaysia collided with a rock at about 10 pm on Oct. 26, said Eliyas ( not real name) from Maungdaw south.
The vessel is illegally transporting mostly Rohingya fleeing from Bangladesh and Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung in Arakan state, Burma. Agents are said to prefer passengers from southern Maungdaw. Sources claim the Burma border police want them to leave the area so they often blind eye by letting boats pass easily through toll stations.
Mostly women and children were among the 10 killed in the boat crash. Many tried to swim to the shoreline but the heavy current in the Naf River was too much for some.
Police stationed at a camp near Shilkhali (Kyauk Chaung) village arrested who they could grab, but many managed to escape, Eliyas told Kaladanpress.
Those arrested have been transferred to Maungdaw police station where food was provided by the Rohingya community, according to an anonymous police source. They were all male and were weak from not eating since the arrests, said the source.
A Maungdaw town academic that didn’t want their name used said the men were are mostly from southern Maungdaw. They have been forced to abandon their native villages because there is no security or livelihood there, the academic said.
On Oct. 24, just days before the boat crashed, another large vessel left for Malaysia through the risky sea route with passengers mostly from Maungdaw township. If this keeps up soon there won’t be any Rohingyas left in Maungdaw, said a schoolteacher that didn’t want their name used for security concerns
