At least five persons were shot dead and about 150 wounded of whom 27 were bullet hit received bullet injuries when human traffickers opened fire in a trawler, carrying more than 300 illegal migrants, in the Bay of Bengal near the St Martin’s Island in Teknaf upazila on Wednesday.Among the victims, identities of four have been confirmed who are Md Selim, Saiful, Monir and Rubel. Lieutenant Kazi Harunur Rashid, Coast Guard’s Teknaf Station Commander, said, “We came to know that the trawler was stuck after an accident with more than 300 passengers who were on way to Malaysia illegally.”Quoting the passengers, he said, the human traffickers opened fire on the passengers during a clash between the passengers and the brokers.”The passengers were locked in the clash with the brokers as the trawler was stranded at southwest of Saint Martin’s Island in Teknaf, Cox’s Bazaar,” he said, adding, “The trawler was stranded in the Bay as the engine of the trawler went out of order.” He said the brokers hired the trawler for carrying the people to Malaysia.The clash erupted between illegal passengers and their brokers in the Bay of Bengal , he said.He said that they have recovered five bodies from the trawler and rescued injured passengers hit by bullet. Other passengers were also rescued from the trawler, he added. The Coast Guard members and Bangladesh Navy managed to bring the trawler back to the shore at 6:15pm.Cox’s Superintendent of Police (SP) Md Azad Miah told The New Nation over phone that the district administration has rescued all the passengers of the trawler with the help of Coast Guard and Bangladesh navy and they were first taken to Teknaf upazila health complex for treatment. Among the passengers, 27 bullet hit persons were taken to Cox’s Bazar Sadar Hospital for treatment.”We suspect that some Burmese and Thai nationals were involved in the illegal process and they have opened fire on the passengers,” he added.When asked, he said, the incident came to our knowledge when some of the stranded passengers sought help from their relatives over mobile phones. He said, a total of 318 people were rescued. Coast Guard has detained two foreign nationals of whom one is from Malaysia and the other from Thailand in connection with the incident. Police also arrested one Kamal from Narshindi on the basis of information from a passenger of the trawler of his involvement in the illegal human trafficking. Coast Guard was preparing to file a case in this connection.
