Weary and uncertain, they carried whatever they could on their backs, trudging through monsoon rains and enduring relocations and extortion attempts as they struggle to find small patches of land that can be their own, at least for a moment.
Young Rohingya Muslims stand on a slope and stretch their arms out to receive food being distributed near Balukhali refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Muddied clothing lay on a rain-soaked ground where Rohingya families earlier camped, after the government moved them to newly allocated refugee camp areas, near Balukhali refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Groups of Rohingya Muslims who fled Myanmar were on the move again Tuesday and Wednesday, forced by the rains to salvage what was left of their shanties and move toward drier ground in hopes of some relief — if the mudslides don't come next.
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Weary and uncertain, they carried whatever they could on their backs, trudging through monsoon rains and enduring relocations and extortion attempts as they struggle to find small patches of land that can be their own, at least for a moment.
Muddied clothing lay on a rain-soaked ground where Rohingya families earlier camped, after the government moved them to newly allocated refugee camp areas, near Balukhali refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Groups of Rohingya Muslims who fled Myanmar were on the move again Tuesday and Wednesday, forced by the rains to salvage what was left of their shanties and move toward drier ground in hopes of some relief — if the mudslides don't come next.
A newly arrived Rohingya family walks towards Balukhali refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
An elderly Rohingya woman, who has crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, arrives at Balukhali refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
The initial arrivals in the most recent exodus from violence in Myanmar simply settled on whatever patch of land they could find, building shelters of bamboo sticks and plastic sheets.
A Rohingya Muslim woman Mustafa Begum waits for help to transport her sick son Mohammad Riyazullaha to a nearby clinic in Taiy Khali, Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
So they're moving again. Most of them are being sent to the new settlement of Balukhali in Cox's Bazar.
A Rohingya Muslim woman Parveen Akhtar carries her sister Rashida and waits for aid to arrive at Taiy Khali refugee camp, Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Rohingya Muslims, who crossed over recently from Myanmar into Bangladesh, stand in a queue to receive food being distributed near Balukhali refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
They were made to pull up the shelters they had first built on an open field. Now they've moved to Balukhali.
Rohingya Muslims, who crossed over recently from Myanmar into Bangladesh, cross a flooded area to find alternate shelter after their camp was inundated with rainwater near Balukhali refugee camp, Bangladesh, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
In the vast open ground where the new refugees had built their first shelters now lie piles of things they simply stuff into bags and carry to their new homes.
Several Rohingya camps in this Bangladesh coastal city are flooded from three days of unrelenting downpours. People in the camps were pelted with heavy rain while desperately packing their meager belongings into plastic sacks and trying to find fresh shelter.
Burmese refugee Sona Mahar in tears while talking about her family members in Myanmar, living in Karachi, Pakistan. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
A newly arrived Rohingya family walks towards Balukhali refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
An elderly Rohingya woman, who has crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, arrives at Balukhali refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
The initial arrivals in the most recent exodus from violence in Myanmar simply settled on whatever patch of land they could find, building shelters of bamboo sticks and plastic sheets.
But as their numbers soared to more than 420,000 in a matter of weeks, the local government has started moving them to newly allocated refugee camp areas. Many refused to move, terrified of being without shelter at all. But the rains washed away many shanties or made them uninhabitable.
Rohingya Muslims, who crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, wait for their turn to collect aid near Balukhali refugee camp, near Balukhali refugee camp, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
A Rohingya Muslim woman Mustafa Begum waits for help to transport her sick son Mohammad Riyazullaha to a nearby clinic in Taiy Khali, Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
So they're moving again. Most of them are being sent to the new settlement of Balukhali in Cox's Bazar.
If the rain doesn't ease soon, the flimsy homes may become useless at best and dangerous at worst. The area is prone to mudslides during the seasonal monsoon that have already proven deadly this year.
For Abul Bashar, that concern will come later, if at all. For now, he needs to shelter his family of 12 from the rain.
Rohingya Muslims, who crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, stretch their arms out to receive packets of biscuits thrown at them as handouts near Balukhali refugee camp, Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
A Rohingya Muslim woman Parveen Akhtar carries her sister Rashida and waits for aid to arrive at Taiy Khali refugee camp, Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Rohingya Muslims, who crossed over recently from Myanmar into Bangladesh, stand in a queue to receive food being distributed near Balukhali refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
They were made to pull up the shelters they had first built on an open field. Now they've moved to Balukhali.
But like all crises, the Rohingya exodus is an opportunity for exploitation and a camp mafia is taking advantage.
Bashar doesn't have the 2,000 taka ($24) to pay them to set up a shelter in this camp.
The family slept in the tent of an acquaintance, but things are tight for everyone, and Bashar says he must find a shelter of his own soon.
He has plastic sheets and bamboo sticks. Just no money to buy a spot.
Rohingya Muslims, who crossed over recently from Myanmar into Bangladesh, carry their belongings and leave their flooded camp for alternate shelter near Balukhali refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Rohingya Muslims, who crossed over recently from Myanmar into Bangladesh, cross a flooded area to find alternate shelter after their camp was inundated with rainwater near Balukhali refugee camp, Bangladesh, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
In the vast open ground where the new refugees had built their first shelters now lie piles of things they simply stuff into bags and carry to their new homes.
Not too far away, in the area where all the shelters were almost submerged, some refugees stood near bundles of their belongings unsure of what to do next.
Rohingya Muslims, who crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, use a makeshift footbridge as they move with their belongings after their camp was inundated with rainwater near Balukhali refugee camp, Bangladesh, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
"We made a shelter here and now it's washed away and I don't know what to do now," said Mohammad Isaq, 50.
"I haven't eaten properly in three days. I'm too weak to take all our belongings to another place."
MEULABOH, Indonesia (AP) — Huddled on board the boat, the 12-year-old girl quaked with fear.
The captain and crew who she says had tortured her and three other women and girls were not finished. And the punishment for disobedience, the men warned, would be death.
It was the third night that the girl and around 140 other ethnic Rohingya refugees had been trapped on the fishing boat off Indonesia’s coast. They had fled Bangladesh and their homeland of Myanmar in a bid to escape violence and terror, only to face the same at sea.
The 12-year-old — identified in this story only by the initial N, because she is a sexual assault survivor — tried to hide. She had already survived a night in the captain’s bedroom, where she says he and several crew members had beaten and sexually abused her.
Like most of the passengers, she had survived attacks by Myanmar’s military that forced her and her family to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. There, she had survived nearly seven years in violence-plagued refugee camps. And she had thus far survived this journey without her family, who hoped she’d make it to Malaysia, where she was promised as a child bride to a man she had never met.
The captain ordered more girls to join him and his crew in the bedroom.
“If you don’t come to us,” he shouted, “then we will capsize this boat!”
What happened next would force N and the other Rohingya on board into yet another battle for survival.
For many, this would be the battle they finally lost.
In March, Indonesian officials and local fishermen rescued 75 people from the overturned hull of a boat off the coast of Indonesia’s province of Aceh. Another 67 passengers, including at least 28 children, were killed when the boat capsized, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Until now, little was known about why the boat capsized. This account, as told to The Associated Press in interviews with eight surviving passengers, provides the first insight into what happened.
N’s journey began in Bangladesh, where a series of boats ferried her and other Rohingya across the Bay of Bengal.
The bedlam began, the passengers say, when they were transferred to a cramped Indonesian vessel that was supposed to take them to Indonesia. From there, they would be smuggled into Malaysia.
The Indonesian captain and crew separated the men from the women and forced the men into the boat’s cargo holds. Anyone who protested was beaten, says Muhammed Amin.
The captain and crew — who warned they were armed, though no one saw a gun — forced N and four other women and girls into the captain’s bedroom.
One of the women slipped out, but N and the others were trapped. The assaults by the captain and five of his six crew lasted all night, N says.
When morning dawned, N was allowed out to use the toilet. She hid among the other women, but the other three girls were abused for a second night.
On the third night, the three girls emerged from the captain’s room, sobbing and speechless.
The captain and crew demanded fresh victims. The women refused.
The captain and crew had been drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana, the passengers say. The furious captain threatened to capsize the boat unless the women complied.
Soon after, Jannat Ullah says, he saw the captain push the steering wheel with his leg.
The vessel tilted violently, sending passengers tumbling. And then it smashed into a wave.
In the blackness of the water, people screamed for salvation, for God, for their children.
N battled her way onto the boat’s overturned hull. Once again, she had managed to survive. But the three girls who were abused alongside her had not.
Amin spotted the captain and three crew members swimming away.
In the morning, a small fishing boat arrived, and took six people to shore.
Meanwhile, worsening waves had destabilized the capsized boat, which overturned again, killing more people.
Rain spared passengers death by dehydration. But as another night passed, it was clear not everyone would survive. Rahena Begum’s 9-year-old daughter stopped breathing.
The passengers prayed, then slid the child's body into the sea.
Around 30 minutes later, Rahena says, the rescue ship finally arrived.
The bodies of 12 women and three children have since been recovered off Aceh, according to the UNHCR.
Although the fishing boat’s crew rescued the initial six people the morning of March 20, search vessels weren’t launched until that evening. Officials didn’t finish rescuing the passengers until midday on March 21.
Ibnu Harris Al Hussain, chief of Banda Aceh’s search and rescue agency, said the rescue operation began shortly after his agency learned about the boat.
“The most important thing is that we have ensured their safety when they were found,” Hussain wrote in a message to the AP.
On April 2, police announced they had arrested three crew members, plus a fourth man who was not on the boat. They were charged with people smuggling, which carries a maximum 15-year prison sentence. Police are searching for the remaining crew, including the captain, who fled to Malaysia, West Aceh Police Chief Andi Kirana told the AP.
Police are not considering murder charges, Kirana says, because they believe the capsize was an accident.
But N and the other passengers believe the disaster was a deliberate act of revenge by a sadistic captain and crew. And for that, N says, the punishment should fit the crime.
“They tortured us. They treated us like animals,” she says. “We want the government to treat them like animals.”
Kirana also said police are not considering rape charges, because they haven’t received reports of sexual assault. But N says police have never questioned her.
N hopes to make it to Malaysia and to the man who wants her as his wife.
Maybe then, she says, she will finally be free — though in reality, Rohingya child brides in Malaysia often become prisoners to abusive husbands.
For now, all she can do is fight to survive another day.
“I don't want to suffer anymore,” she says.
Gelineau reported from Sydney.
Rohingya women sleep in their tent at a temporary shelter in Meulaboh, Indonesia, on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. They were among 75 people rescued in March from atop the overturned hull of a boat, which capsized off the Indonesian coast. Dozens of other Rohingya refugees died. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)
Rescuers recover the body of a Rohingya refugee from the waters off Meulaboh, Indonesia, on Saturday, March 23, 2024. The bodies of 12 women and three children were recovered following the capsize of a boat that was carrying around 140 Rohingya refugees, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Sixty-seven people were killed in the disaster. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)
Rescuers bury the body of a Rohingya refugee recovered from the sea in Meulaboh, Indonesia, on Sunday, March 24, 2024. The bodies of 12 women and three children were recovered following the capsize of a boat that was carrying around 140 Rohingya refugees, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Sixty-seven people were killed in the disaster. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)
Rohingya refugees rest on the deck of a National Search and Rescue Agency ship, after being rescued from their capsized boat off West Aceh, Indonesia, on Thursday, March 21, 2024. The wooden fishing boat carried about 140 Rohingya refugees, but only 75 people were rescued. In interviews with The Associated Press, eight of the survivors described abuses on board the fishing boat. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)
Rohingya refugee Rahena Begum, right, and her 13-year-old son, Noor Shahed, pose for a photograph at a temporary shelter in Meulaboh, Indonesia, on Thursday, April 4, 2024. They were among 75 people rescued in March from atop the overturned hull of a boat that capsized off Indonesia's coast. Dozens of others, including Rahena's 9-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son, died. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)
Fatima Khatun, a Rohingya survivor of a capsized refugee boat, poses for a photograph inside her tent in Meulaboh, Indonesia, on Thursday, April 4, 2024. Fatima was among 75 people rescued in March from atop the overturned hull of the boat. Dozens of others, including Fatima's 8-year-old daughter, died. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)
N, a 12-year-old ethnic Rohingya refugee identified by The Associated Press with only an initial, because she is a sexual assault survivor, stands in front of her tent at a temporary shelter in Meulaboh, Indonesia, on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. N was among 75 people rescued from atop an overturned fishing boat off the coast of Indonesia in March. Dozens of other Rohingya refugees died. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)
Samira, left, and her husband, Akram Ullah, both ethnic Rohingya refugees, pose for a photograph at a temporary shelter in Meulaboh, Indonesia, on Thursday, April 4, 2024. They were among 75 people rescued in March from atop the overturned hull of a boat that capsized off Indonesia's coast. Dozens of other Rohingya refugees died. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)
Bashir Ahmed, a Rohingya survivor of a capsized refugee boat, reads the Quran at his temporary shelter in Meulaboh, Indonesia, on Thursday, April 4, 2024. Bashir was among 75 people rescued from atop the overturned hull of the boat, which capsized off Indonesia's coast in March. Dozens of others died. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)
Fatima Khatun, a Rohingya survivor of a capsized refugee boat, cleans her temporary shelter in Meulaboh, Indonesia, on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. Fatima was among 75 people rescued in March from atop the overturned hull of the boat, which capsized off Indonesia's coast. Dozens of others, including Fatima's 8-year-old daughter, died. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)
N, a 12-year-old ethnic Rohingya refugee identified by The Associated Press with only an initial, because she is a sexual assault survivor, speaks during an interview at her temporary shelter in Meulaboh, Indonesia, on Tuesday, April 2, 2024. N described how the captain and crew of a fishing boat that eventually capsized off the Indonesian coast abused her and three others. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)
Umar Faruq, a 9-year-old ethnic Rohingya refugee who survived a boat capsize, arranges tamarind seeds in the shape of a heart at a temporary shelter in Meulaboh, Indonesia, on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. Umar was among 75 people rescued in March from atop the overturned hull of the boat, which capsized off Indonesia's coast. Dozens of other Rohingya refugees, including at least 28 children, died. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)
Samira, a Rohingya survivor of a capsized refugee boat, uses a mirror inside a tent at a temporary shelter in Meulaboh, Indonesia, on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. She was among 75 people rescued from atop the overturned hull of the boat, which capsized off Indonesia's coast in March. Dozens of other Rohingya refugees died. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)
Rahena Begum, third from left, a survivor of a capsized refugee boat, sits with other ethnic Rohingya women at their temporary shelter in Meulaboh, Indonesia, on Thursday, April 4, 2024. In March, Indonesian officials and local fishermen rescued 75 people from atop the overturned hull of the boat. Dozens of other Rohingya refugees died. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)
N, a 12-year-old ethnic Rohingya refugee identified by The Associated Press with only an initial, because she is a sexual assault survivor, holds a coconut ahead of breaking her Ramadan fast at a temporary shelter in Meulaboh, Indonesia, on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. N was forced to leave behind her family when she fled Bangladesh on a boat packed with other Rohingya refugees. She hoped to make it to Malaysia, where she'd been promised as a child bride to a man she'd never met. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)
Rescuers carry the body of a Rohingya refugee recovered from the sea off Meulaboh, Indonesia, on Saturday, March 23, 2024. The bodies of 12 women and three children were recovered following the capsize of a boat that was carrying around 140 Rohingya refugees, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Sixty-seven people were killed in the disaster. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)
Fatima Khatun, a Rohingya survivor of a capsized refugee boat, cries as she calls her son in Bangladesh from a temporary shelter in Meulaboh, Indonesia, on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. Fatima was among 75 people rescued in March from atop the overturned hull of the boat. Dozens of others, including Fatima's 8-year-old daughter, died. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)
Members of Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency give instructions to Rohingya refugees rescued from a capsized fishing boat off West Aceh, Indonesia, on Thursday, March 21, 2024. The wooden fishing boat carried about 140 Rohingya refugees, but only 75 people were rescued. In interviews with The Associated Press, eight of the survivors described abuses on board the fishing boat. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)
Ethnic Rohingya refugees board a National Search and Rescue Agency ship after being rescued from their capsized boat in the waters off West Aceh, Indonesia, on Thursday, March 21, 2024. The wooden fishing boat carried about 140 Rohingya refugees, but only 75 people were rescued. In interviews with The Associated Press, eight of the survivors described abuses on board the fishing boat. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)
Ethnic Rohingya refugees climb onto a National Search and Rescue Agency boat after their boat capsized off West Aceh, Indonesia, on Thursday, March 21, 2024. The wooden fishing boat carried about 140 Rohingya refugees, but only 75 people were rescued. In interviews with The Associated Press, eight of the survivors described abuses on board the fishing boat. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)
Ethnic Rohingya refugees stand on their capsized boat as rescuers throw a rope to them off West Aceh, Indonesia, on Thursday, March 21, 2024. The wooden fishing boat carried about 140 Rohingya refugees, but only 75 people were rescued. In interviews with The Associated Press, eight of the survivors described abuses on board. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)
Members of Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency scan the horizon during the search for a capsized boat carrying Rohingya refugees off West Aceh, Indonesia, on Thursday, March 21, 2024. The wooden fishing boat carried about 140 Rohingya refugees, but only 75 people were rescued. In interviews with The Associated Press, eight of the survivors described abuses on board the fishing boat. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)
N, a 12-year-old ethnic Rohingya refugee identified by The Associated Press with only an initial, because she is a sexual assault survivor, stands in her tent at a temporary shelter in Meulaboh, Indonesia, on Thursday, April 4, 2024. N was among 75 people rescued from atop an overturned fishing boat off the Indonesian coast in March. Dozens of other Rohingya refugees died. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)
