A Malaysian ship
carrying aid for Myanmar’s Rohingya refugees has arrived in Chittagong.
The ship ‘Nautical
Alia’ arrived at the CCT Jetty in Chittagong Port at 11am on Tuesday.
Bangladesh Foreign
Secretary (Maritime Unit) Rear Admiral Khurshid Alam, Malaysian Ambassador Nur
Ashikin Mohd Taib, Chittagong District Administrator Shamsul Arefin and other
senior officials were present in the port during its arrival.
The ship is carrying
1,472 metric tons of aid including rice, sugar and tea leaves.
The Cox’s Bazar
administration says 150 trucks have been hired to transport the aid from
Chittagong to Cox’s Bazar.
The aid ship faced
protests when it arrived in Yangon on Feb 9 with aid for Rohingya Muslims.
The ship dropped off
500 tons of food, medicine and other supplies before it set sail for
Chittagong.
The aid is meant for
Rohingyas seeking refuge in the south-east of Bangladesh. The aid ship was
gathered with the help of several of Malaysia’s national, international and
Muslim aid organisations.
Nearly 69,000
Rohingyas have fled across the border to Bangladesh since Myanmar began a
military crackdown in Rakhine state after a series of militant attacks killed 9
policemen on Oct 9.