A Boat Carrying 180 Rohingya Refugees Vanished. A Frantic Phone Call Helped Untangle the Mystery

khaosodenglish
By Associated Press
KRISTEN GELINEAU reported from TEKNAF, Bangladesh
June 6, 2023

Jamal Hussein’s boat in the storm. (AP Illustration/Peter Hamlin)

The wind had whipped the waves to nearly three times the woman’s height when her panicked voice crackled over the phone.

“Our boat has sunk!” Setera Begum shouted, as a storm threatened to spill her and around 180 others into the inky black sea south of Bangladesh. “Only half of it is still afloat!”