Bangladeshis leave Lanka after sea ordeal

Three months after being detained for trying to illegally enter Sri Lanka, 61 Bangladeshis returned home on Sunday.

They told on arrival at the Shahjalal International Airport that members of Myanmar Coast Guard detained them on February 7 after they set off for Malaysia about a month ago in a boat from Teknaf's Karmud Ghat. They said they were being guided by some 'agents'. Abdur Shakur, a residence of Teknaf, said they were released later from there after being assaulted physically. "Our boat reached near the Thailand coast some nine days after we were released," he said.

Ziaul Haq, son of Moheskhali's Mohammad Shahin, also travelled in the boat with Shakur. He said the coastguards of Thailand left them on the Indian Ocean in a ship after they were handed over to them by the agents.

"We reached near the Sri Lankan shore after starving for some 24 days on the sea."

He said they had been living off a 40-kg fish they had caught in the sea and salty water during those days. Another of them, Saidul Alam, said they were sent to the Immigration Detention Centre by the Sri Lankan coastguards after being informed by the boatmen of the country.

A woman named Anwara Begum was also with them.

She said her husband, living in Malaysia, had made it to the country in a similar way.

Courtesy: Bangladesh News