Bangladesh: Rohingya trying to reach Malaysia rescued

By Md. Kamruzzaman

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - More than 300 members of the oppressed Rohingya ethnic group who tried to flee to Malaysia through the risky sea route were rescued off southern Bangladesh Wednesday night, local media reports said.

“At around 9 p.m. [0300GMT] members of Bangladesh’s Coast Guard found the Rohingya at Tekhnaf, Cox’s Bazar,” the local Bangla national newspaper Shamokal reported.

Citing Lt. Commander M Sohel Rana, a Tekhnaf Coast Guard official, the report said more than 300 Rohingya started the journey to Malaysia on a big-engine trawler, but turned back after they failed to reach Malaysia.

“Most of the detained are women and children,” Mohammad Saiful Islam, a local leader, told the media, the report added.

Mohammad Zobaer, one of the group from a refugee camp, was quoted as saying 482 Rohingya started the journey two months ago through the Bay of Bengal, but Malaysian security kept them from their destination.

He added that 28 people died en route, leaving 342.

Some one million Rohingya live in refugee camps in southern Bangladesh, having fled a campaign of ethnic cleansing and terror in neighboring Myanmar in 2017. They have been called the world’s most persecuted people.