9 sued for bid to send people to Malaysia

A man, who survived a motorboat capsize in the Bay of Bengal in the early hours of October 28, has sued nine people for trying to send around 130 people illegally to Malaysia.
Abu Bakar, one of the six survivors, filed a case on Wednesday night with Teknaf Police Station in Cox's Bazar. He hails from Deilpara in Teknaf upazila, said Mohammad Farhad, officer-in-charge of the police station.
The OC, however, did not disclose the names of the accused in the case.
Abu Bakar, 22, along with around 30 others boarded a motorboat at Shah Porir Dweep on the Naf river in the evening of October 27. They were heading to the sea, according to the case statement.
Deep in the Bay, they boarded a bigger motorboat bound for Malaysia. Around 100 people were already on board.
Around 4.00am on October 28, the passengers found a crack had developed at the bottom of the motorboat, which was overloaded. The helmsman tried to steer the boat to the Myanmar shore but failed, the plaintiff said.
The six survivors were clinging to some plastic stuff throughout the day before being rescued by a trawler that night. The other passengers went missing, he added.
Lt Badroddoza, Teknaf station commander of Bangladesh Coast Guard, said they had no report on any of the missing people.
Hamidur Rahman, chairman of Sabrang Union Parishad in Teknaf, told The Daily Star that around 42 of the passengers taking the trip were from five villages under the union.