Families in Bangladesh Cling to Hope as Loved Ones Remain Missing After Trawler Disaster

In the dense coastal settlement of Samiti Para in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, families are grappling with the disappearance of loved ones lost at sea. Eight-year-old Junaid waits, his father Mohammad Nur having boarded a trawler weeks ago for Malaysia, never to return. His stepmother also left, and now Junaid and his elder brother live alone.

Junaid's cousin, Mohammad Hossain, shares a similar fate, his father Mohammad Harun also among the missing. At least five men from Samiti Para were on the trawler that capsized in the Andaman Sea in early April during a perilous journey to Malaysia. The settlement itself is built on loss, originally formed by survivors of the 1991 cyclone and later attracting low-income families from across the country.

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They said they were going to Malaysia to change their fate.

Rahima Begum, mother-in-law of Shafiullah, one of the missing, pleaded with him not to go, fearing the rough seas. He left anyway, unable to feed his family due to a fishing ban. The family has not filed a case, as they were told he might have reached an island alive and would be brought back, a promise that keeps them suspended between hope and grief.

Mohammad Alam Maizbhandari recalled Nur and Harun saying they were going to Malaysia to change their fate. Hamid Majhi, brother of Ibrahim Khalil, is one of the nine survivors rescued on April 9. He has since been named the principal accused in a case filed over the incident, with six of the nine survivors identified as members of an alleged human trafficking network. Locals say Majhi had made the journey multiple times before.

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We do not understand whom to file a case against.