Zero line Rohingyas being transferred to Ukhiya

Rohingyas, whose houses burnt down at the zero line camp during a shootout at the Myanmar side of the Ghumdhum-Tumbru border on January 18, are being taken to Cox's Bazar Ukhiya upazila on Sunday. 

A total of 180 Rohingyas were brought from the Tumbru border area to Ghumdhum union parishad of Naikhongchhari upazila of Bandarban at around 8:30am on Sunday.

Among them, 100 Rohingya were taken to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) transit point at Kutupalong at around 12pm.

The rest of the Rohingya are scheduled to be transported to Ukhiya's Kutupalong later in the day.

In this regard, Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) Mohammed Mizanur Rahman said: "The first phase of transferring the Rohingyas refugees has started after verifying that they were from the zero line camp.”

“The information of 2,970 Rohingyas from a total of 562 families in Tumbru has been collected. Among them, 180 Rohingyas from 37 families have been taken to Ukhiya transit point,” he added.

The official further said they will collect fingerprints and pictures of the Rohingyas who are not yet registered in any camps.  

On January 18, a person was killed and two were injured in a shootout on the Myanmar side of the Ghumdhum-Tumbru border in Naikhongchhari upazila of Bandarban.

The zero line camp was also set on fire that day. 

Due to this, Rohingyas present there are running in fear towards Bangladesh.

According to local sources, about 30 Rohingyas including women and children took shelter in Ghumdhum union parishad of Naikhongchhari upazila of Bandarban when the zero line Rohingya camp caught fire. 

Later they were taken from there to Tumbru Government Primary School by local people.

Locals said that due to the shelling, many people living on the border, were moving to other places along with their domestic animals, cows and goats.

Around 4,280 Rohingyas have been living in the Rohingya camp established at the zero line in Tumbru since 2017.

Source: Dhaka Tribune