Staff Reporter :
Myanmar armed forces are opening fire on Rohingya men, women and children while fleeing their villages in the Rakhine state in a bid to enter Bangladesh.
Wounded, hungry and exhausted thousands of Rohingya continued to slosh through the mud, and cross mountain and dense forest in a bid to save their lives amid gun fire and inclement weather.
The number of refugees who have arrived in Bangladesh from Myanmar’s Rakhine state since militant attacks there on August 25 stands at over 400,000, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Thursday.
Relieved to reach the camp at last at Teknaf of Cox’s Bazar district, some of those escaping described their exodus tale that they had encountered on their way to Bangladesh.
“The Myanmar forces are firing on us indiscriminately. I along with my six-year old son hid in the paddy field to save our lives. But they also fired targeting the paddy field killing my son and injuring me,” Karima Khatun, narrated the horrific tale to journalists with tears rolling down her chick at Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar on Thursday.
She added as the bullet pierced through her left hand, she became unconscious and fell down on the muddy paddy field.
“Amid firing some of my neighbours rushed to me and rescued me. I saw my son’s body laying on the paddy field. I had to leave the place with others leaving my son’s body on the field,” she said as wailing.
She said they came to Teknaf after seven days of their journey that began from their villages in Rakhine state.
Carrying their elderly family members and children, they have started their journey before seven days to reach Bangladesh.
Many of them had fled with just the clothes on their backs. They have come by land, mountain and river.
Many have died along the way as Myanmar army opened fire on them. Others have found themselves sustained with bullet and landmine explosion wounds.
According to Cox’s Bazar district administration, on an average 30,000 to 40,000 Rohingyas are coming through different borders everyday.
The trek through the dense bush of the mountains took two days, but the journey from their village home in Rakhine state took eight days to reach Bangladesh border.
Mohammad Ibrahim said when his family of four crossed mountains on Wednesday, he tied his three-year old daughter to his back with a longyi. His wife carried their two-year-old the same way.
“Some parts were so steep we had to pull ourselves up by tree roots,” he said, adding at night, they just cut a clearing in the bush and slept there.
“They dragged me around like a dog and beat me up indiscriminately. Like me, many Rohingyas were tortured in many ways by the Myanmar soldiers and civilians,” a middle-aged Rohingya refugee told the local journalists.
“I had thought this was the end for me. I kept fainting, and every time I fainted they would hit me with firearm butt to wake me up.”
Another refugee Ahessan comes from Rakhine state in Myanmar, which he fled in recent weeks.
My name is Ahessan, I am 30 years old. Before the crisis, I was a farmer in my home village of Chin Khali, but I also used to teach English to children after work, so I was a very busy man.
Ahessan said on the morning of August 25, he was having breakfast with the members of his family when the military entered the village and started firing their guns at us. It was indiscriminate and five members of his family died, according to Al Jazeera television.
I found my mother lying on the floor with bullet wounds in her back, my sister lay nearby with stab wounds to her face and body. It was the most distressing scene I have witnessed, but I did not have time to be sad as I was scared the military would shoot me, too.
A soldier tried to rape my sister, she resisted but they still beat her up. She is so traumatised that she has not spoken a word since, and she can barely move – my brother and I carried her here on a bamboo-blanket made bed.
We saw many terrible things on the road to Bangladesh-there were dead bodies, children crying and old people starving. When we reached the border there were over a thousand other Rohingya trying to cross the river – eventually, we found a boat which took us across.
I believe the whole world is helping and supporting us and for that, I am very grateful. I appeal to the whole world, please let us be citizens of a country.
The UNICEF on Thursday said their estimate suggests the number of Rohingya refugees who fled home since the outbreak latest spate of violence on August 25 reached 400,000.
“Up to 400,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh since August 25, with thousands more arriving every day,” the UNICEF said in a statement in the southeastern beach town, the scene of main influx of refugees.
The statement said around 60 per cent of the refugees were children adding that the sheer number of refugees overwhelmed pre-existing refugee camps, “with new arrivals seeking shelter anywhere they can find space”.
UNICEF trucks filled with emergency water, sanitation and hygiene supplies for thousands of Rohingya children are headed to Cox’s Bazar, with a steady stream of supplies in the pipeline for the coming days and weeks.
“There are acute shortages of everything, most critically shelter, food and clean water,” said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF’s Representative in Bangladesh.
He added: “Conditions on the ground place children at risk of high risk of water-borne disease. We have a monumental task ahead of us to protect these extremely vulnerable children.”
According to UNICEF statement, the supplies included detergent powder, soap, and pitchers and jugs for containing water, along with nappies, sanitary napkins, towels and sandals the UN agency was also supporting the government Public Health Engineering Department with water treatment plants and carriers.
“UNICEF is working with partners on the ground to install and rehabilitate tube wells,” it read
These items are part of a first wave of supplies that will massively scale-up UNICEF’s emergency response to the growing number of Rohingya children in Bangladesh,” Beigbeder said.
UNICEF has appealed for US$ 7.3 million to provide emergency support to Rohingya children over the next four months.
