SHAH PORIR DWIP, Bangladesh (AP)
— Nabi Hussain owes his life to a yellow plastic oil container.
The 13-year-old Rohingya boy couldn’t swim, and had never even seen the sea before fleeing his village in Myanmar. But he clung to the empty container and struggled across the water with it for about 2 1/2 miles, all the way to Bangladesh.
Rohingya Muslims escaping the violence in their homeland of Myanmar are now so desperate that some are trying to swim to safety in neighboring Bangladesh. In just a week, more than three dozen boys and young men used cooking oil containers like life rafts to swim across the mouth of the Naf River and wash up ashore in Shah Porir Dwip, a fishing town and cattle trade spot.
“I was so scared of dying,” said Nabi, a lanky boy in a striped polo shirt and checkered dhoti. “I thought it was going to be my last day.”
This story is from the November 17, 2017 edition of Dhaka Courier.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the November 17, 2017 edition of Dhaka Courier.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Rohingya: Walk A Mile In Their Shoes
My reminiscences of Cox’s Bazar are deeply rooted in my childhood during family vacations taken with my parents and three siblings - horse rides on the beach, sunsets against the widest horizon, charcoal barbecues by nightfall, and copious amounts of seafood throughout our stays. My recent trip to Cox’s Bazar, some 20 odd years later, however, was starkly contrasting in that the circumstance was dire, one which continues to sit steep in my mind.
Suu Kyi Risks Losing Ground To Military Over Rakhine Crisis
YANGON • Locals like to joke that Myanmar has two governments. That’s not very far from the truth.
Satellite Images Show Sprawling Rohingya Refugee Camps
Massive, makeshift refugee camps are sprawling over farms and open land in southern Bangladesh as more than 500,000 Rohingya Muslims flee violent attacks in their predominantly Buddhist homeland of Myanmar.
Akhtarun Nahar Ivy's 9
UNB Cultural DeskArt is a unique, powerful tool of connecting people, culture, says Ahn Seong-Doo
Ganasangeet Festival Still Showing Hope For Music
Ganasangeet Festival Still Showing Hope For Music
Trump Hurtles Toward Three Nuclear Crises
Trump Hurtles Toward Three Nuclear Crises
What Bangladesh Stands To Gain From Bangabandhu-1
What Bangladesh Stands To Gain From Bangabandhu-1
Where Good Voices Must Go Bad
Where Good Voices Must Go Bad
The minister's one hundred taka
The minister’s one hundred taka
Dhaka Wants Delhi Pressure For Rohingya Return
Indian foreign secretary visits Bangladesh, no development on Teesta front