Rescued Rohingyas handed over to UNHCR
The commission has been asked to ensure 14-day quarantine of them
Nearly 400 Rohingyas rescued last night from Teknaf coast have been handed over to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), after providing them primary support including food.
The commission has been asked to ensure 14-day quarantine of them.
Around 8 pm on Wednesday, a trawler carrying the Rohingyas anchored at the coast of Teknaf upazila of Cox's Bazar after their boat had failed to enter Malaysia illegally around two months ago.
Lt M Sohel Rana, Teknaf station officer of the Coast Guard, confirmed the matter to The Business Standard.
According to the rescued Rohingyas, they set off for Malaysia around 58 days ago with 442 passengers on board, but Malaysian police drove them off the coast. While drifting for almost 55 days on the sea without food or water, 28 of them died of starvation.
Rescued Rohingyas are said to be residents of Teknaf's Kutupalon, Balukhali, Thaing Khali, Noyapara and Shamlapur refugee camps.
"We have not yet counted the rescued Rohingyas," said Liakat Ali, in-charge of Baharchora police investigation centre, adding "We are prioritising the humanitarian issues at first."
Around one million Rohingya live in refugee camps in southern Bangladesh since they fled a brutal and inhumane ethnic cleansing and terror in neighbouring Myanmar in 2017. They have been called the world's most persecuted people.
