When disaster struck, Fayaz and his family believed they were on the verge of safety. Hordes of terrified Rohingya refugees had gathered at the river banks in Maungdaw, Myanmar, at about 5:00 pm local time on August 5th, while bombs began to rain down. “We were boarding the boat one by one—they started bombing us,” Fayaz says.
Their goal was to escape from their violence-torn villages as well as seek refuge in Bangladesh. With his wife carrying their six-year-old daughter and his sister-in-law holding their eight-month-old son, Fayaz tried to flee with just a few belongings he could have.
Family Destroyed Rohingya Refugees
One bomb hit and killed Fayaz’s sister-in-law instantly. Although the baby survived, he suffered severe injuries in the initial blast. “I ran and held him…But he died when we were waiting for bombing to stop,” says Fayaz sorrowfully.
By 17:00 hours, Nisar* had also reached the riverbank with his family, He was accompanied by his mother, wife, children, and sister, But there were drones overhead, which interrupted them as they escaped from danger. “We heard drones and then a loud explosion…. We all fell down,” according to Nisar, who alone remained alive after that attack.
Surprising survival Rohingya Refugees
Eventually, Fayaz, his wife and daughter crossed over to Bangladesh via the river. Even so, as they left behind Maungdaw, the boatman refused to allow him to bring along the dead body of his youngest child.” So I made a hole near its bank of this river,” said Fayaz.
Both Fayaz and Nisar are now struggling with the traumatic loss of their families in relative safety inside Bangladesh. Holding Quran, Nisar reflects, “If I knew what would happen I would never have left that day.”
Stitching together horror
Even though the civil war in Myanmar is an ongoing conflict, August 5th was just one such occurrence with increasing numbers of atrocities. BBC conducted a series of interviews among a dozen or so Rohingya survivors who had managed to make it over into Bangladesh. These interviews and video images captured by the survivors provide an eerie picture.
Unarmed Rohingya civilians speak of an extended shelling campaign that lasted over two hours. Many said they came under attack from drones, which are increasingly used in Myanmar. Others spoke of being struck by mortar rounds and gunfire as well. Incomprehensible scenes followed by videos examined by BBC verify filled with bloodied bodies—most women and children—lying everywhere along the riverbank. Though no verified death toll exists, witnesses claimed to have seen many dead bodies.
In the aftermath of the massacre, half of those injured at the MSF clinic in Bangladesh were women and children. At the same time, there was also a surge in wounded Rohingya patients from their thousands on arrival days later. The enormity of this tragedy remains unknown, but for those who survived, their stories provide only glimpses into what the Rohingya people went through that can break anyone’s heart.
