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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Kaamil Ahmed and Yassin Abdumonab in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

‘A generation lost at sea’: the desperate Rohingya falling prey to traffickers as they flee Bangladesh

View from above of a group of veiled south Asian women and children on a long wooden boat
Rohingya refugees waiting to be rescued from a boat after a week anchored off the coast of Labuhan Haji in Aceh, Indonesia. While most Rohingya try to get to Malaysia, many are risking their lives on even longer journeys across south-east Asia. Photograph: Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP/Getty

Majuma Begum stayed awake until 3am waiting for her son to return from the market before accepting he was not coming home. The next day he phoned to say he was on the Bangladeshi coast, waiting to begin a boat journey to Malaysia that she had desperately tried to stop him taking.

It was the start of weeks of worry for the 58-year-old, whose fears deepened when a boat carrying Rohingya refugees capsized near Malaysia in early November, killing dozens. She felt as though she could finally breathe again when he finally reached his destination.

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