Sectarian Violence
Wounded Myanmar citizens narrate escape
Members of Bangladesh Coast Guard and Border Guard Bangladesh send back boats, carrying Myanmar citizens fleeing the sectarian violence there, from Teknaf of Cox's Bazar after providing them with food and water yesterday. (Below) One of the Myanmar citizens, Kala Hossain, 50, who was shot during the violence, being treated at Chittagong Medical College Hospital yesterday. Photo: Anurup Kanti Das
Three Myanmar citizens who were shot while fleeing the sectarian violence in the neighbouring country were being treated at Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) yesterday under police custody. One of them, Kala Hossain, 50, has a bullet lodged in his stomach and was bleeding internally. Doctors said they already collected three out of four bags of AB positive blood, donated by the CMCH staff, needed for the operation to bring out the slug. Lying on a bed in Ward 25, Kala agonisingly told the correspondent of his escape. Kala was praying inside a mosque in Maungdaw township on Saturday afternoon when he heard gunshots outside. He got hit while running for the door amidst the hail of bullets being sprayed on the building, said Kala. Kala remembered losing consciousness while running for the Naf river. He thinks four people who were running along with him must have picked him up and boarded him on a fishing boat. He regained consciousness at Teknaf Upazila Health Complex on Sunday. Border Guard Bangladesh arrested him at around 9:00am that day for illegally entering the country and he was shifted to CMCH in the early hours yesterday. He said he had nothing to do with the violence in his country and expressed his concern for the safety of his wife, four sons and three daughters, whom he had left behind. He suspected the attackers were not of his locality. Not knowing what to do next, he helplessly said, “Neither do I have any relative in Bangladesh nor any money.” Another Myanmar citizen, Mohammad Selim, 20, was recovering in Ward 24 after doctors removed a bullet from his chest on Sunday. Selim said he got shot while running for the river with his mother, Khursheda Begum, 40, and Jane Alam, 25, after his house in the township was set alight on Friday. Escaping through the same route as Kala's, he was admitted to Cox's Bazar Medical College Hospital on Saturday morning. Police arrested him and his mother and brother from the hospital for the same offence at around 9:00pm that day and shifted him to CMCH on Sunday. “What is our fault? We fled from Myanmar to save our lives. How could we manage our passports and visas?” questioned Selim. The third Myanmar citizen, Mohammad Tayab, 20, was lying unconscious in Ward 28 with a bullet lodged in his skull. Dr Faridul Islam Chowdhury, an assistant professor of the neurosurgery ward, said they were waiting for a CT scan report before they could operate upon him. Tayab was arrested by police from Cox's Bazar Medical College Hospital on Sunday and shifted to CMCH in the early hours yesterday. A social service officer of Hospital Social Services Programme at CMCH, Paruma Begum, said they would assist with the treatment of the three. Police were doing their best to assist in their treatment, said Selim Mohammad Jahangir, superintendent of police of Cox's Bazar, adding that some policemen donated blood for the trio. CMCH Director Brig Gen Fashiur Rahman said humanity should be the first preference of a hospital and he had directed the hospital's store to provide the medicine the trio needed.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments