1,642 Rohingyas reach Bhashan Char

In hopes of a better future, 1,642 Rohingyas have reached Bhashan Char in Noakhali district from Ukhiya upazila in Cox's Bazar.

Seven ships took the Rohingyas from Chattogram to Bhashan Char on Friday morning, while two ships carried their possessions. Several other Navy boats escorted these vessels.

"The first ship carrying the Rohingyas reached Bhashan Char around 2pm on Friday. Rohingyas from all the ships were gathered at the Navy's contingent warehouse on the char," said Mohammad Shamsuddoza, additional refugee relief and repatriation commissioner.

He added that the Rohingyas were brought to the newly built shelters allocated for them in the afternoon.

"There is enough food stock for three months for the Rohingyas. More supplies will arrive in phases. All types of facilities have been arranged for them," said the additional refugee relief and repatriation commissioner.

Asked when the next batch of Rohingyas would be brought to Bhashan Char, Shamsuddoza said, "Let us first settle the Rohingyas brought here in the first phase. Relocating more Rohingyas in the next phase is under process."

Meanwhile, the newly relocated Rohingyas told reporters that they had come to Bhashan Char because they did not like living in the cramped spaces in camps in Cox's Bazar. Hence, they voluntarily opted to come to Bhashan Char in response to the government's call.

Twenty buses carried the Rohingyas from Ukhiya to temporary transit camps in BAF Shaheen College field and Bangladesh Navy Ready Response Bath on Thursday night.  

Sayed Ullah, one of the Rohingyas landed in Bhasan Char on Friday, could not hold his feelings of extreme happiness seeing all the facilities there.

"Alhamdulillah. We are extremely happy. I had never imagined that such a beautiful place is waiting for us with so many facilities," he said over phone, reports UNB.

"We are going to Bhasan Char. Nobody did force me or other members of my family," one of the Rohingya mothers said expressing satisfaction over their relocation from the crowded camps.