Members of the Bangladesh Coast Guard have rescued a total of 58 Rohingyas and detained two human trafficking agents from near St Martin’s Island.
The group was rescued from a Malaysia-bound trawler, in the Bay of Bengal, to the south-east of St Martin’s Island, around 6:30pm yesterday.
Of the 58 passengers, 20 are men, 28 women, and 10 children. They all hail from the Rohingya camps in Ukhiya and Teknaf.
Confirming the incident, Lt Jusel Rana, commander of Teknaf Coast Guard Station, said: “We received a tip-off about the trawler, and conducted a raid in the bay."
The detainees are Rubel, 23, of Naitongpara in the Teknaf municipality and Omar Faruk, 25, of the Kutupalong Rohingya camp in Ukhiya, he added.
Since August 26 last year, more than 700,000 Rohingyas, mostly children and women, crossed into Bangladesh—fleeing brutal persecution carried out by Myanmar’s security forces. They joined over 400,000 other Rohingyas who were already living in squalid, cramped refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.
