After 33 long days due to the conflict in Myanmar, trawlers and speedboats have started plying the Teknaf-Saint Martin sea route. Foodstuffs going to Saint Martin in normal way. Ordinary passengers are returning to Teknaf. 2 trawlers left Teknaf Ghat for Saint Martin on Sunday (July 7) morning. And 4 trawlers and 7 speedboats left for Teknaf with passengers from Saint Martin. Which reaches Teknaf Shahpari Island at 12:30 PM. Chairman of St. Martin Union Parishad Mujibur Rahman confirmed the matter. He said that due to the conflict in Myanmar, the traffic in the Teknaf-St. Martin sea route was stopped. But with the help of the administration, the trawler came and went to St. Martin twice by alternative route. Later the alternative route was also closed due to rough seas. Finally, on Sunday morning at 9 am, it left for Teknaf with passengers from St. Martin Jetty. Then at 9:20, 9:30 and 9:40 another 3 trawlers left Saint Martin with passengers for Teknaf. Besides, 7 speedboats left for Teknaf. Finally between 12:30 PM and 1:00 PM the trawlers and speeds reached Shahpari Island in Teknaf safely. Where there were more than 250 passengers. At the same time, the national flag has been hoisted high on each boat.

Meanwhile, Abdul Malek, a passenger who reached Teknaf by trawler from St. Martin, said, after a long time, I reached Teknaf by trawler. There was no problem. Teknaf upazila executive officer (UNO). Adnan Chowdhury said that the movement of ships on the Teknaf-Saint Martin route is normal. So far 4 passenger trawlers and 7 speedboats have reached Teknaf from St. Martin. Another 2 food trawlers will leave Teknaf for Saint Martin and arrive in the afternoon. Hopefully, everything will be normal.

It is to be noted that due to the ongoing conflict in Myanmar, on the afternoon of June 1, a trawler with 10 passengers headed for St. Martin from Teknaf was fired from Naikxyongdia area. In addition, on June 5, at a center postponed in St. Martin, voting was taken to determine the result of the post of Vice Chairman of Teknaf Upazila Parishad. On their way back after the ceremony, the election related officials including the duty magistrate were shot again at the same point targeting the trawler.

Another trawler was fired at the same point on June 8. A speedboat was recently fired at on June 11. Each of the firing incidents took place in Bangladesh’s internal waters. Although there were no casualties in these firing incidents, the Teknaf-Saint-Martin route was closed for safety reasons. This created a food crisis in the island and an obstacle in the case of emergency arrival and departure. On June 12, in an emergency meeting of Cox’s Bazar district administration, it was decided to use the Bay of Bengal for the arrival and departure of passengers and goods. From June 13, passenger traffic started using the Sabrang Mundar Dale coast in Teknaf. On June 14, the ship took goods from Cox’s Bazar city to the island. And as an alternative route, it was decided to run some boats on a limited scale to Shahpari Island and St. Martin. But since June 22 that too has been closed.