Rohingya refugees who sought shelter on Saint Martin’s Island after being caught in stormy weather at seaCollected
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) officials said, 20 Rohingya refugees who sought shelter on Saint Martin’s Island after being caught in stormy weather at sea could not be sent back due to rough conditions.
Around 11:00 am last Friday, a fishing trawler carrying the group came ashore on the island’s northern beach. Among the passengers were 16 men, 3 women, and a child — five of them from the same family.
Acting chairman of Saint Martin Union Parishad, Foyezul Islam, told Prothom Alo that the refugees are currently in BGB custody, along with the seized trawler.
Citing the Rohingya, he said they fled Myanmar amid continued fighting between the country’s military and the insurgent Arakan Army.
Several of them had previously been imprisoned, and after being released, they chose to escape by sea. But as the weather worsened, their vessel veered toward Saint Martin’s coast.
A BGB officer told Prothom Alo that the group will be repatriated as soon as the weather improves.
Multiple sources familiar with the border situation said clashes between Myanmar’s armed forces and the Arakan Army began in Rakhine State in February 2024.
After nearly 11 months of fighting, the Arakan Army had seized control of around 80 per cent of the region, including Maungdaw, by 8 December of that year.
As a result of the unrest, an estimated 150,000 Rohingya have newly entered Bangladesh over the past 18 months, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR.
