Rohingya recall dread of Myanmar army attacks and narrow escapes
Violence in Myanmar has driven nearly 400,000 of the ethnic Muslim minority across the border to Bangladesh in 20 days. They face as much danger in their escape as in their villages in Myanmar.
A Rohingya Muslim woman Hanida Begum, who crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, kisses her infant son Abdul Masood who died when the boat they were traveling in capsized just before reaching the shore of Bangladesh on September 14, 2017.
She made a panicked retreat when the marauding soldiers fired bullets at her house.
“I was so afraid that I ran away. Later I came back to my house to see my family, I saw my husband was shot dead and my daughter was unconscious," said Fareza, a Rohingya refugee camped in Bangladesh.
''The Myanmar military chased our family, they fired guns towards us and one of the bullets hit my daughter's head. She just fell down on the spot," Fareza said of her daughter Rojida.
The mother-daughter duo finally made it to Bangladesh where over 400,000 other Rohingya Muslims are camped since August 25 when Myanmar’s army and Buddhist mobs torched villages and hamlets sparking a mass displacement of minority Rohingya toward Bangladesh.
The violence was sparked by attacks by Rohingya rebels on security posts last month.
The army's response has claimed more than 400 lives and driven nearly half of the ethnic Muslim minority across the border in just 20 days.
The Naf River - swollen by the monsoon - has claimed dozens of lives. Other refugees have stepped on deadly landmines, losing limbs or lives along the land border between Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Swollen river, landmines haunt refugees
But it's not just the violence that is claiming the lives of the desperate Rohingya. The journey to Bangladesh has also proven deadly for many.
The Naf River - swollen by the monsoon - has claimed dozens of lives. Other refugees have stepped on deadly landmines, losing limbs or lives along the land border between Myanmar and Bangladesh.
"To save our lives from bullets, we came to Nikondia from Prochim Tilla (West Hillock). While coming to this shore of Bangladesh from Nikondia our boat capsized and my wife and child drowned," said Mohammed Salim Ullah, a Rohingya refugee.
On Thursday, a wooden boat packed with Rohingya Muslims was a few metres away from shore in Bangladesh when it capsized.
What happened next, Associated Press Journalist Dar Yasin who saw the scene said, will haunt him: a young mother's horrified discovery that her infant son, Abdul Masood, had drowned in the waist-high waters.
Hanida Begum's wails filled the air as she mourned her dead boy.
She had given birth to twin boys just 40 days ago. Now one was gone.
In the shelter camps, rights groups said the situation is dire while help has been slow to come.
Aid agencies say they need millions of dollars in support to provide urgently needed help.
TRT World’s Arabella Munro has more.
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